Hakimullah targets US again, vows memorable attack

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has written a letter to the sister of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani convicted for attempted murder by an American court, promising to carry out a 'memorable attack against the United States".

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief "threatened a memorable response against the United States" in the letter he wrote to Fouzia Siddiqui nearly two months ago, Dawn News channel reported. On the basis of this letter, the channel contended that Hakimullah may have had a hand in the botched car bombing in New York City that resulted in the arrest of Pakistan-American Faisal Shahzad.

In the letter, Hakimullah declared that the sister of the incarcerated Aafia Siddiqui was like his own sister and assured her of all possible cooperation. Threatening the US, he announced his intention to teach the country a 'lesson'.

Hakimullah also said in the letter that the leaders of Pakistan would face a 'fitting response', the channel report. The channel's report on the letter came days after the Taliban released a new video of Hakimullah, in which he was seen threatening to carry out attacks on major cities in the US, in retaliation for the death of top militant leaders.

"The time is very near when our fidayeen will attack the American states in their major cities," Hakimullah said in the video, which was posted on the internet hours after the attempted car bombing in New York City's Times Square.

The complaint filed in court by the Federal Bureau of Investigation against Shahzad, 30, stated that had recently received bomb-making training in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region. Shahzad is the son of a retired vice marshal of the Pakistan air force.

US authorities have played down any possible connection between the Pakistani Taliban and the attempted car bombing in New York, saying the group does not have the global infrastructure to carry out such an attack.