Islamabad: The Pakistan Army has sacked and arrested an officer for insubordination but officials have dismissed suggestions that the matter was linked to the Times Square bombing plot by Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad.
The Inter-Services Public Relations said the officer, identified only as Major Adnan in some media reports, was sacked for insubordination.
Media reports said the officer from the Signal Corps had also been arrested for violating discipline.
A spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations denied that the matter was linked to the attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square.
Reports said the major did not abide by rules and regulations of the Pakistan Army and was sacked after his seniors complained about him to higher authorities.
Earlier in the day, the Los Angeles Times quoted Pakistani law enforcement sources as saying that the major was arrested for his alleged links to Faisal Shahzad.
The report said the major's involvement with Shahzad "remains unclear". The daily also quoted the law enforcement sources as saying that the major had met Shahzad, a naturalised US citizen of Pakistani descent, in Islamabad and was in cell phone contact with him.
The report said another suspect being held by Pakistani authorities is a local Taliban member who appeared to play the role of liaison between Shahzad and the militant group.
The Taliban member told Pakistani intelligence agents that he met Shahzad three times last summer. At one of those meetings, the Taliban member gave Shahzad an undisclosed amount of money because Shahzad said he was running out of cash.
The daily quoted US officials familiar with the case as saying that the Taliban gave Shahzad about USD 15,000 to pay for the attempted bombing.
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