US: US sees no Taliban link to New York shooting
05 Apr 2009 2:28 AM
STRASBOURG, April 4 AFP - US authorities say they found no link between the Pakistan Taliban and a shooting in New York state that left 14 dead.
A US official said on condition of anonymity on Saturday that "the FBI has uncovered no evidence linking the gunman in the New York attack to terrorists".
A man claiming to be Pakistan's most-wanted militant on Saturday claimed responsibility for Friday's massacre in Binghamton, but Pakistani officials rubbished his claim.
"Whatever happened in America yesterday was done by our men," Baitullah Mehsud told local journalists in a telephone call from an undisclosed location heard by an AFP reporter.
The Taliban chief appeared to give details at odds with US police statements and reports that a lone Vietnamese gunman was responsible for the killings in upstate New York.
US police said the gunman killed 13 people at a citizenship centre in Binghamton before taking his own life.
Pakistani officials also poured scorn on Mehsud's assertion.
"We don't think he has the capability to strike in the United States," one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
