By Daniel Trotta
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pakistani-American arrested on suspicion of driving a bomb-laden car into New York's Times Square told U.S. authorities he acted alone but skeptical investigators are looking into his recent trip to Pakistan, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday.
Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested late on Monday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after being removed from a plane as it was about to take off for Dubai, officials said.
Shahzad, 30, was due to appear in federal court later on Tuesday to face charges of "driving a car bomb into Times Square on the evening of May 1," officials said. Had the bomb detonated, many people could have died, experts said.
"He's admitted to buying the truck, putting the devices together, putting them in the truck, leaving the truck there and leaving the scene," the law enforcement source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"He's claimed to have acted alone. He did admit to all the charges, so to speak," the source said, adding that investigators were still looking into his activities during a recent trip to Pakistan.
President Barack Obama said the investigation would seek to determine if the suspect in custody had any connection with foreign extremist groups.
If links were found between the failed bombing and Pakistan's Taliban, which claimed responsibility for it, Pakistan could come under renewed U.S. pressure to open risky new fronts against Islamic militants.
Pakistan vowed to help the U.S. investigation.
Shahzad, who became a U.S. citizen last year, recently visited Pakistan for about five months, returning to the United States in February, the source said.
"Based on our collective experience it's hard to really believe that this is something someone would do on their own. It seems hard to pull off alone. There's a lot we don't know yet," the source said.
Shahzad had boarded the Emirates airline flight for Dubai before being detained, the airline said. ABC News, citing unidentified federal officials, said the plane had begun to taxi for take-off when FBI agents ordered it to return to the gate.
"Clearly the guy was on the plane and shouldn't have been and we got very lucky," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference.
'SOBERING REMINDER'
Shahzad is suspected of buying a 1993 Nissan sport utility vehicle used to carry the crude bomb, made of fuel and fireworks, into Times Square as the theater and shopping area was packed with people on a warm Saturday evening.
New Yorkers bore the brunt of the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda militants in 2001, and Saturday's scare was a reminder that the city of 8 million people is always under threat.
Obama, who was notified of Shahzad's arrest just after midnight, said the incident was a "sobering reminder" of the times, but vowed that the United States would not be intimidated.
Authorities searched Shahzad's home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the FBI said on Tuesday. An FBI spokeswoman did not say what authorities had found.
The Taliban in Pakistan said on Sunday it planted the bomb to avenge the killing in April of al Qaeda's two top leaders in Iraq as well as U.S. interference in Muslim countries.
Some officials voiced skepticism about the claim. But former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel, who last year oversaw an Obama administration strategy review on Afghanistan and Pakistan, cautioned against dismissing a Taliban role.
"They have said they want to attack inside the United States," he said before the arrest was announced, adding it was possible the incident involved "some Pakistani-American who has never built a car bomb before in his life but who is being coached either by phone or Internet".
Pakistan is an ally to the United States and other NATO countries fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan but is also seen as a training ground for Islamist militants.
Saturday's failed bombing was the second significant plot in nine months targeting New York City. An Afghan immigrant, Najibullah Zazi, has pleaded guilty to plotting a suicide bombing campaign on Manhattan's subway system last September.
U.S. authorities disrupted that plot before Zazi and his accused accomplices were able to carry it out. Another Afghan-born man has pleaded guilty for his role in the plot.
Zazi admitted to receiving al Qaeda training in Pakistan.
Garry Hindle, head of security and counterterrorism at Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank, said: "We've been saying for a long time that this type of incompetent attack is the trend. If it follows the pattern of previous incidents, we can expect to uncover an amount of prior overseas travel, instruction from trainers and a search for inspiration from radicalizers abroad".
Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; Jeremy Pelofsky, Jeff Mason, JoAnne Allen and Will Dunham in Washington; and William Maclean in London; Editing by Frances Kerry
Reuters Canada
