US tightens security after Times Square bomb plot

Questions have been asked as to how Mr Shahzad got on a plane for Dubai

The US has tightened its flying restrictions after Saturday's failed bomb attack on New York's Times Square.

Airlines must now check no-fly lists within two hours of being told of updates to watch-lists, officials say.

The move is aimed at stopping known suspects from boarding planes, as 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad did on Monday.

The Pakistan-born US citizen has admitted trying to detonate the Times Square car bomb, having learnt how to make it in Pakistan, court papers say.

He faces terrorism and explosives charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and transporting an explosive device with the intent to kill.

Tightening restrictions

Court officials will not say when Mr Shahzad - who is apparently providing significant information to investigators - will appear before a judge.

ALLEGED PLOTS SINCE 9/11 Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a makeshift bomb aboard a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 Army psychiatrist Maj Nidal Hasan is charged with murder in the deaths of 13 soldiers at Texas army base in November 2009 Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohammed Ali Hadayet kills two at the Los Angeles International Airport ticket counter of Israeli airline El Al in July 2002 Terror plots against the US

Investigators say the Connecticut resident has implicated himself and told them he had acted alone since hatching the plot last December.

But court documents show that he admitted having attended a militant training camp in the strife-torn Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said joint terrorism task force officials want to learn more about that training and who gave it.

Despite his name being added to the government's no-fly list on Monday, Mr Shahzad managed to buy a ticket on an Emirates flight to Dubai and made it through JFK's security checks late that evening.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government said Mr Shahzad had been heading for Islamabad in Pakistan, and had been due to change planes in Dubai.

FAISAL SHAHZAD Aged 30 Naturalised US citizen born in Pakistan Resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut Married - wife and two young children believed to be in Karachi Awarded a master's in business administration from University of Bridgeport in 2005 Visited Pakistan at least eight times in recent years, according to local officials Profile: Faisal Shahzad Trail leading to bomb bid Court papers reveal details Troubled Waziristan

Airline security staff apparently failed to check the latest version of the no-fly list - which included his name - when he checked in.

After last-minute checks by customs agents, the flight was stopped as it taxied to the runway, and he was pulled off the plane.

Before now, airlines had been required to check for updates to the no-fly list each day.

Under the tighter restrictions, they will now have to check the updated list within two hours of being informed of changes, homeland security officials were quoted as telling the Associated Press.

They risk a fine for failing to comply.

Smoking car

The New York Times reports that in 2004 detectives interviewed a man who bought a house from Mr Shahzad, wanting more information about the Pakistani American.

This suggests that for some reason, six years ago Shahzad had attracted the attention of the US government's joint terrorism task force, although it remains unclear why.

ANALYSIS M Ilyas Khan BBC News Mohib Banda, Pakistan There is a sense of shock in the village of Mohib Banda near Peshawar, where Faisal Shahzad's family comes from. Faisal Shahzad's father is a big success story for the villagers because he was a fighter pilot who rose to the position of air vice marshal in the Pakistan air force. In general, most people don't believe that his son did what he is accused of doing in New York. They say the family is too educated and well-bred. Very few people actually know Faisal Shahzad - some haven't seen him for years, many have never met him. Those few villagers I met who did know Faisal Shahzad said they had seen changes in his personality in the past three years following his marriage. They say he grew a beard and became more withdrawn and quiet. Arrest stuns Pakistan village

While his roots may give the country of his birth a bad name, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the fact the incident took place in the US and that Mr Shahzad was a naturalised US citizen made him the responsibility of the US.

"The guy goes there for a studentship. He gets naturalised. He gets married, living with his wife. So it has happened in the US. So of course primarily it is the duty of that particular authority to keep an eye [on him]."

He said that even if Mr Shahzad had received terrorism training in Pakistan, that did not change Islamabad's efforts to tackle the problem of Pakistan-based militants.

"If the individual decides to take the training individually and then gets motivated or does an act on his own, you cannot level that as a collective thing from Pakistan, or say that any sort of help is being given to them," he said.

Mr Shahzad is alleged to have bought a car that was found loaded with a bomb made from fertiliser, fireworks, petrol and propane gas tanks.

The 1993 Nissan Pathfinder was left with its engine running and hazard lights flashing in Times Square on Saturday evening - when the square was packed with tourists and theatregoers.

The bomb was discovered and dismantled after a street-vendor noticed smoke coming from the vehicle and alerted police.

The unexploded bomb left crucial evidence intact that detectives used to trace Mr Shahzad.

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