May 4, 2010 | 10:52 am

What we know and don’t about the Times Square bomb suspect

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow JewishJournal.com on

The New York Times has the latest on the Times Square bomb suspect. Today’s headline is a bit less leading than last night’s, which said something along the lines of “man with Pakistani ties arrested in bomb square.” Here’s the word:

A Connecticut man pulled off a plane bound for Dubai and arrested in a failed bid to set off a car bomb in Times Square has made statements implicating himself, a law enforcement official said on Tuesday morning.

The man, Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, was taken into custody just before midnight Monday at Kennedy Airport aboard an Emirates flight that had just pulled away from the gate, officials said. Mr. Shahzad had apparently driven to the airport in a white Isuzu Trooper that was found in a parking lot with a loaded handgun inside, the official said.

Mr. Shahzad also told the authorities that he had acted alone, but hours after he was arrested, security officials in Karachi, Pakistan, said they arrested a Pakistani man who had spent time with Mr. Shahzad during a recent visit there. Investigators said they arrested the man, Muhammad Rehan, in a mosque in the North Nazimabad area just after morning prayers. The mosque is known for its links with the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Investigators said Mr. Rehan told them that he had rented a pickup truck and driven with Mr. Shahzad to the northwestern city of Peshawar, where they stayed from July 7 to July 22, 2009. The account could not be independently verified.

Mr. Shahzad, who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., spent four months in Pakistan last year, the authorities said. His ties to that country, as well as the arrest there of Mr. Rehan, strengthened suspicions that the Times Square plot had at least some tentacles reaching overseas.

There is a lot more here. Oddly, though, no mention of motivations or really any religion at all.