Embassy caterer among 6 arrested in NY bomb plot

ISLAMABAD (AP) - The co-owner of a catering company that organized events for the U.S. Embassy is among six men detained by Pakistan for allegedly helping the failed Times Square bombing suspect, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Friday.

In a statement on its website, the U.S. Embassy warned that the catering company was suspected of ties to terrorist groups and said American diplomats had been instructed to stop using the firm.

Like Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American accused in the failed New York bombing, the six Pakistani detainees were all members of their country's urban elite, including several who were educated in the United States. One was a former army major.

The suspects were part of a loose network motivated by hatred of America and the West, the Pakistani official said.

One of the men often traveled to the tribal areas close to the Afghan border where U.S. officials have said Shahzad received explosives training under the Pakistani Taliban, the official said.

At least two allegedly helped Shahzad with funding, the official and another Pakistani security officer said, although the exact nature of their link to the Times Square bombing suspect was still being investigated.