N.Y bombing suspect spent time at Taliban-affiliated seminary in Pakistan

Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is the main suspect in the bombings in New York and New Jersey last weekend, spent time in a religious seminary in Pakistan which is closely associated with the Afghanistan Taliban.

Speaking to the Guardian, a security official working for the government of Balochistan province said that that 28-year-old spent time at the Kaan Kuwa Naqshbandi madrasa on his two visits to Pakistan.

Rahami spent three weeks in 2011 receiving lectures and Islamic education"at the school in Kuchlak, which is a well-known hub for the Taliban and also serves as a home to many madrasas, linked with the Taliban.

US officials have revealed basic details about Rahami's two visits to Pakistan, the first in 2011 when he spent a couple of months in Quetta and got married and almost a year in 2013 when he also made a car journey to Afghanistan.

However, very little information has emerged from Pakistan about what Rahami did during his visits in the country.

The government official further alleged that Pakistani security agencies have tried to "hide all the details of his visits to Quetta" and keep as much information as possible out of the media.

He also stated that Rahami also visited other sensitive areas in the province, including Surkhab and Nushki, where former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was killed by a US drone in May.

Rahami's father Mohammad Rahami has said his son had grown increasingly interested in Islamist movements, watching Taliban and al-Qaida videos, and listening to their poetry.