国际英语新闻：Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for New York car bomb plot

NEW YORK, May 2 (Xinhua) -- A top Pakistani Taliban commander has taken credit for a failed car bomb attack on Saturday in New York City's Times Square area, a media website reported on Sunday.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, the top bomb maker for the Movement of Taliban in Pakistan, has said he takes "full responsibility for the recent attack in the USA," according to a report on The Long War Journal website.

Qari Hussain made the claim on an audiotape accompanied by images that was released on a Youtube website that calls itself the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel, said The Long War Journal report.

The Channel was created only on April 30, one day before the failed bomb attack on Times Square.

"The attack is a revenge for the great & valuable martyred leaders of mujahideen," Qari Hussain was quoted as saying in the audiotape. He also said the attempted plot was "revenge for the Global American interference & terrorism in Muslim countries."

The authenticity of the audiotape has yet to be confirmed.

Qari Hussain Mehsud is on the wanted list of the Pakistani Army.

The Long War Journal website was operated by Public Media Inc., a non-profit media organization that says its mission is to "provide original and accurate reporting and analysis of The Long War (also known as the Global War on Terror)."

At about 6:30 p.m. local time Saturday, a T-shirt peddler alerted local authorities of a suspicious, smoking sports utility vehicle on Times Square, a famous tourist attraction, which prompted an evacuation of visitors. Bomb squad officers later discovered propane gas tanks, fireworks and timing devices in the car.

The Times Square reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic on Sunday, but U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said authorities are "alerting state and local law enforcement authorities, and others to stay on their toes."