Reply #27: Pakistani Taliban Claims NYC Car Bomb

[tekisui]

Source: Associated Press

CAIRO — The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility in a video released Sunday for the attempted car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square.

In the 1 minute, 11 second video allegedly released by the Pakistani Taliban, the group says the attack is revenge for the death of its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, and the recent slaying of the leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq — Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri — who were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops last month north of Baghdad.

Despite the claim of responsibility, New York City's police commissioner said there's no evidence of a Taliban link to the failed car bomb.

On the tape, an unidentified voice speaking in Urdu, the primary language in Pakistan, also says the attack comes in response to American "interference and terrorism in Muslim Countries, especially in Pakistan for (the) Lalmasjid operation," a reference to the Pakistani army's 2007 storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad where militants were holed up inside.

If the claim of responsibility is genuine, it would be the first time the group has struck outside of South Asia. It was no known global infrastructure like al-Qaida. In at least one past instance, the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack it played no role in.

The claim, which was posted on militant websites and uncovered by the U.S-based SITE Intelligence Group, could not be immediately confirmed. The video makes no specific reference to Saturday's failed attack in New York, does not mention the attack's location or that it was a car bomb.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvkQCyOOEuuk_Hdfq1j5lzGCEgXQD9FETHMG0

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Not sure about this.