JeM link behind Times Square bomb plot?

Pakistani intelligence officials are tracing links between Times Square bombing plot suspect Faisal Shahzad and banned terror group Jaish-e-Muhammad, led by Maulana Masood Azhar.

This search has led investigators to the sprawling, marble-floored Batha Mosque and a religious school in a crowded neighbourhood of Karachi, which was once the provincial headquarters of the JeM and was visited by the elusive Azhar, who was released from prison in 1999 in exchange for a hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

The mosque patronised by the JeM is under scrutiny. Sources said that Pakistani security and intelligence officials had questioned four persons picked up from the mosque for possible links with the Times Square bombing suspect.

"Possible links have emerged as we try to track down the movements of Faisal when he visited Pakistan in the last few years," one source said. The source said that United States law enforcement officials were also being updated on the ongoing investigations.

"There is a link that this mosque was being used to recruit young people by the Jaish-e-Muhammad," one source said.

The mosque located in the north of Karachi in a lower middle-class locality has been frequented by Jaish activists in recent months. "There are indications that the mosque had links with the banned outfit and regular congregations held there are patronised by the banned outfit," one source stated.

The Jaish-e-Muhammad was established in 2000 by Maulana Azhar to train militants to fight against India. JeM has been blamed for many terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets and has also been accused of killing American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The group has links to Afghanistan dating back to the war against the Soviet occupation. Security and intelligence sources said that they were investigating possible links between Faisal and the mosque as Faisal's friend Muhammad Rehan, who was arrested this week, was a Jaish member.

The security and intelligence sources said they were trying to ascertain whether it was possible that Faisal might have been in touch with the Al Qaeda and Taliban sympathisers when he last visited Pakistan and stayed in Karachi for three months.