FBI trashes Taliban claim on New York killings

Washington: The FBI on Saturday rubbished Pakistan Taliban leader Baituallah Masoud's claim that the group was responsible for an attack on a US immigration assistance centre in New York state in which 14 people were killed.

"We can firmly discount that claim," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said. A lone gunman killed 13 people at the centre on Friday before apparently turning the gun on himself, authorities in Binghamton, New York, said.

Earlier, Masoud - who carries a $5 million US bounty on his head - claimed that the massacre "was done by our men & Two of my men, one of whom was Pakistani and the other a foreigner, carried out the operation."