N.Y. bomber has al Qaeda tie, White House says

(05-10) 04:00 PDT Washington --

The U.S. citizen who attempted to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square last week was trained and funded by a Pakistani militant group that works closely with al Qaeda to plot attacks against the United States, top Obama administration officials said Sunday.

"We've now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack," Attorney General Eric Holder said on ABC's "This Week." "We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it. And that he was working at their direction."

The assertion was repeated by senior White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, who said it appeared as though 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad was "operating on behalf of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the TPP."

"It's a group that is closely allied with al Qaeda," Brennan said on "Fox News Sunday." "They train together, they plan together, they plot together. They are almost indistinguishable."

Brennan said he could not comment on whether the group recruited Shahzad, a Pakistani-born naturalized citizen, because his American passport allowed him to travel easily between the two countries.

Shahzad was arrested as he tried to flee the country on a flight to the Middle East late last Monday, 53 hours after his sport utility vehicle packed with explosives was discovered in Times Square. Although Obama administration officials initially described Shahzad as a lone wolf, since his arrest a fuller picture of his connection to radical Islamic elements had emerged.

This article appeared on page A - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle