A PAKISTANI-born US citizen who tried to set off a car bomb in New York's busy Times Square was sentenced yesterday to life in prison.

Faisal Shahzad, 31, pleaded guilty in June to a failed May 1 bombing in Midtown Manhattan. He admitted to investigators he received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban and that the group had funded the bomb plot.

He was sentenced yesterday morning in Manhattan federal court by US District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum to life with no chance for parole.

Shahzad, who lived in the neighboring state of Connecticut and became a US citizen in 2009, parked a smoking sports utilityvehicle in Times Square with its engine running and hazard lights flashing on a Saturday evening.

But street vendors alerted police to the vehicle within minutes and thousands of people were evacuated from the popular theater district. A bomb squad defused the crude device, which included firecrackers and propane gas tanks.

Shahzad, who has a wife and two children living in Pakistan, told investigators he thought his bomb would kill at least 40 people, and that he had planned a second bombing attack two weeks later. A second target was not identified.

The son of a retired Pakistani vice air marshal, Shahzad was arrested aboard a Dubai-bound jetliner at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport two days after the attempted attack. He had been on his way back to Pakistan. Shahzad pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted terrorism transcending national borders.

Shahzad, a former budget analyst who worked for a Connecticut marketing firm, used the Internet to study Times Square in a bid to maximize damages, and prosecutors said he consulted with militants in Pakistan throughout the bomb-making process.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• guilty [´gilti] a.有罪的；心虚的 (初中英语单词)
• federal [´fedərəl] a.联邦的，联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
• neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中英语单词)
• aboard [ə´bɔ:d] ad.&prep.在...上 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• weapon [´wepən] n.武器；斗争手段 (初中英语单词)
• destruction [di´strʌkʃən] n.破坏，毁灭 (初中英语单词)
• hazard [´hæzəd] n.危险 vt.冒...险 (高中英语单词)
• budget [´bʌdʒit] n.&vi.(做)预算；安排 (高中英语单词)
• manhattan [mæn´hætən] n.曼哈顿 (英语四级单词)
• utility [ju:´tiliti] n.有用 a.有各种用途的 (英语四级单词)
• vehicle [´vi:ikəl] n.车辆；媒介物 (英语四级单词)
• marshal [´mɑ:ʃəl] n.(陆军)元帅 (英语四级单词)
• retired [ri´taiəd] a.退休的；通职的 (英语六级单词)