Taliban claim responsibility for New York gun rampage which left 13 dead

Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud today claimed responsibility for the gun attack on a U.S. immigration centre which left 13 people dead and four in a critical condition.

• U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment about Mehsud's claim, but Pakistani security analysts dismissed it as a publicity stunt.
  
• More than 40 people were taken hostage at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York state yesterday by a man with a high-powered rifle who later committed suicide.
• Mehsud told Reuters by telephone that two men, one a Pakistani and the other a 'foreigner', had carried out the shooting in the United States on Friday.
• 'I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks,' he said, adding one of the attackers had escaped and telephoned him.
  
• If the claim is true it would be the first Taliban attack on U.S soil since September 11, 2001.
  
• However Pakistani analysts were sceptical about the claim.
  
• 'It seems it's a move to boost his image. To me, it's just bluster and bluff,' said Talat Masood, a retired general turned analyst.
  
• 'It shows he's under tremendous pressure.'
  
• The gunman, who was carrying identification with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong, blocked the back door of the American Civic Association with his car before walking through the front entrance and opening fire.
• Republican Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, told the New York Times that indications are the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam.
• He also claimed the gunman had recently been let go from IBM in Johnson City, although the company was not able to confirm this.
  
• Hinchley said: ‘People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship.
  
• ‘It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire.’
  
• The man entered a foyer and shot two receptionists, Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said.
  
• One receptionist was killed, but another pretended to be dead, then crawled to a desk and called authorities, he said.
  
• Police responded within two minutes. 
• The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office and a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police also found two handguns - a 9 mm and a .45-caliber - as well as a hunting knife.
  
• Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.
  
• 'I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting,' she said.
  
• 'I heard shooting, very long time ... and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished.'
  
• At one point, police led a number of men out of the building in plastic handcuffs while they tried to sort out the victims from the killer or killers.
  
• CNN reported that local radio reporters saw police SWAT teams being stood down around the immigration centre. Cheering was also heard from the building, signalling the end of the crisis.
• Earlier, FBI hostage negotiators had been on the scene, trying to convince the gunman to let them remove any wounded hostages from the building.
• Fifteen people were said to have hidden in a cupboard for more than an hour at the centre. Another 26 were in the building's boiler room.
  
• The killer was described as between 5ft 8ins and 6ft tall, wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses.
• SWAT police and sharpshooters circled the building and local businesses and homes were evacuated. 
• Shortly after noon local time, about ten people were released from the building with their hands on their heads. The police searched some of them.
  
• About 40 minutes later, another ten were released from the back of the building, wearing white sheets. In all, 37 people were rescued during the entire operation.
  
• During the stand-off, family members of the hostages and victims gathered outside while ambulance crews were on standby. A local university student was said to be among the casualties. 
• Police searched the Johnson City home of the suspected gunman and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags yesterday evening.
• New York Governor David Paterson said the massacre was probably 'the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city.'
• He added the community centre was holding class 'for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today.
• 'But there still is an American dream, and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton.'
  
• Binghamton is a small town in western New York State, 180 miles from New York City.
  
• The American Civic Association there helps immigrants and refugees with issues such as personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship and family reunification. It also provides translators.
  
• According to police, the centre was scheduled to hold citizenship tests yesterday to determine whether immigrants could legally remain in the U.S. 
• In Baden-Baden, Germany, President Barack Obama said he was shocked and saddened by the deadly mass shooting, calling it an 'act of senseless violence.'
• The president, who is traveling in Europe, said he and his wife, Michelle, were praying for the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton.
  
• The shooting spree comes just days after eight people were shot dead at a nursing home in North Carolina.
  
• Three weeks ago, another gunman shot dead ten people, including his mother, grandmother, uncle and cousin, in Alabama.