Profile: Faisal Shahzad

Faisal Shahzad, who was born in Pakistan, received his US citizenship last year [AFP]

Faisal Shahzad, charged with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a botched bombing in New York City’s Times Square, was born in June 1979 in the town of Pabbi, located northwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Shahzad is the son of Baharul Haq, a former air force vice-marshal and deputy director general of the civil aviation authority, according to Kifyat Ali, a cousin of the father.

Shahzad became a US citizen in 2009, shortly before travelling to Pakistan for what he says was a five-month stay to visit his parents, according to US officials.

He is married with two children, and his wife and children are believed to be living in Pakistan, sources told the Associated Press news agency.

Shahzad graduated from the University of Bridgeport in the state of Connecticut with a bachelor’s degree in computer applications and information systems in 2000 and later returned to earn a master’s in business administration in 2005, the school said.

Shahzad worked for about three years as a junior financial analyst at the Affinion Group, a marketing and consulting business, located in Norwalk, Connecticut. He left the company in June 2009.

Shahzad used to live in a two-storey greyish-brown colonial-style house with a sloping yard in a working-class neighbourhood in Shelton, Connecticut.

Shahzad bought the home for $273,000 and lost it to foreclosure last year.

Frank DelVecchio, a broker trying to sell it for Shahzad, said Shahzad told him to let the bank take the house as he owed too much on it and planned to return to Pakistan.