No global militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the NY blast or a pipe bomb that went off earlier along the route of a Saturday road race in suburban New Jersey.
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Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in his doorway.
The Department of Homeland Security is actively monitoring and participating in the investigations in NY and New Jersey.
Authorities were looking for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized USA citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Two officers were shot, one in the hand and the other in a bullet-proof vest, he said. But New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the act of blowing up a bomb in a crowded area of Manhattan “is obviously an act of terrorism”.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a police shootout in New Jersey on September 19, 2016.
The bombings suspect was later apprehended in New Jersey.
Authorities were looking for Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalised United States citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
But after the Chelsea bombing, Gov. Cuomo said 1,000 additional New York State Police officers and National Guard troops will be deployed to patrol bus terminals, airports and subway stations.
One of the five devices found at the Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it.
An explosive device left near a train station in Elizabeth, blew up earlier on Monday when a bomb squad robot cut a wire on the mechanism, one of as many as five potential bombs found at the site, the city’s mayor said. The race was cancelled and no one was injured.
The New York Police Department had released a photo of Rahami, 28, and said they wanted to question him about a Saturday night explosion that wounded 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said.
Most of the injured were treated for minor injuries including shrapnel wounds and released, though police listed one injury as serious.
Spokesman Josh Earnest says the White House is following the situation closely.
FBI personnel search an address during an investigation into Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was wanted for questioning in an explosion in NY, which authorities believe is linked to the explosive devices found in New Jersey, in Elizabeth, September 19, 2016. He is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan. In the immediate aftermath of that bombing, de Blasio and Cuomo were careful to say there was no evidence of a link to worldwide terrorism.
Authorities are still investigating whether that bombing is linked to explosive devices found nearby in Manhattan and in two sites in New Jersey.
The NYPD tweeted Monday morning that authorities were seeking Ahmad Khan Rahami.
“We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this”, de Blasio told reporters Sunday.
Officials have not revealed any details about the make-up of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a mobile phone attached to it. Both said today that appears to be changing. Authorities were trying to determine if they were connected.
The backpack in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was found around 9:30 p.m. Sunday in a wastebasket outside a neighborhood pub – about 500 feet from a train trestle, officials said.
Shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, the FBI and NY police stopped a vehicle of interest in the investigation, according to a statement from FBI.
The investigation into the Chelsea bombing Saturday night continues as President Obama and the U.N. General Assembly converge on Manhattan for a summit on refugees.
The pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors.
Investigators believe there are more people involved in the NY and New Jersey bombing plots than just Rahami, but they do not have a good idea who those people are, two USA officials told Reuters.
“What we didn’t know yesterday, and we don’t know yet, is: Is anyone taking credit for it and is it linked to worldwide terrorism?”
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On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores.
