³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

An attempted car bomb attack in New York's Times Square on Saturday has received wide coverage in the US media, including much speculation as to who was behind it.

considers a link to the corporate owner of the TV progamme South Park.

The location is near the entrance to the headquarters of Viacom, corporate owner of Comedy Central's South Park cartoon, which some Muslims have criticized for its satiric depiction of the Islamic prophet Mohammed in a bear suit. Asked about a link to South Park, [Police commissioner Raymond] Kelly said, "We certainly wouldn't rule it out."

Other papers are looking at how the type of attack could add clues to who was responsible - and questioning whether these relatively small plots are the new trend, as Keith Johnson in the Wall Street Journal suggests.

The that security experts have said the culprit(s) appears to have lived in the New York area, suggesting it was a case of homegrown or "lone-wolf" terrorism.

This is a very crude device that is at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to explosives," said one person familiar with the investigation.

This probably means the would-be bomber "lacks a formal training in explosives," and thus the bomb was "most likely the work of an American or expatriate living in America that is not a trained member of a terrorist organization," the person said.

But, as a counterterrorism expert in the says, 'amateur' bombs should not be underestimated.

Often officials use the word 'amateurish' when in fact the attempts turn out to be more complex than first portrayed," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University.

"Even if the bomb was amateurish, look at the target. New York has an image of being tough on terrorists, but that wasn't enough to prevent someone from putting a car bomb in the city's nerve center on a busy night."

asks whether car bombs, the "weapon of choice" in other areas of the world, will now be the new method of attack in the United States.

For New Yorkers, it was an unsubtle and unsettling reminder that threats could be lurking in the trunks or back seats of any of the thousands of vehicles that push their way into the city every day.

A CNN blog explains how the hunt has begun for a man caught on video tape in Times Square - and also reports the possible links to a Pakistani Taliban group.

In a purported Pakistani Taliban video that surfaced on the internet Sunday, the group took responsibility for the foil ed attack, though [Police commissioner Raymond] Kelly said Sunday afternoon that "we have no evidence to support this claim."

The group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, said in a video that the attack was revenge for their leaders killed by American forces, and for United States and NATO interference in that part of the world.

carries more on these claims, including threats by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was reportedly killed in a attack in Afghanistan four months ago, but has released a video pledging fresh US attacks.