On Sunday around 9:30 p.m., two men found the backpack and thought it might contain something valuable. As the robot was doing so, one of the devices detonated.
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The discovery of the suspicious package comes a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Then, late Sunday, five pipe bombs were found in a trash can near an NJ Transit station in Elizabeth New Jersey.
Police arrived at the scene Sunday night and found five bombs in the backpack.
“The robots that went in to disarm it, cut a wire and it exploded”, Bollwage said.
Bollwage said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was attempting to disarm one of the devices when it exploded at around 12:30 a.m. Monday. Amtrak service is now suspended in Elizabeth as a precaution.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a man police earlier said they wanted to question in connection to the bombings in NY and New Jersey, is now in custody after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, sources say.
The Chelsea blast followed a pipe bomb explosion on Saturday morning along the route of a running race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
An image of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in a a poster released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on September 19, 2016. By Sunday, 26 of the injured who had been admitted to hospitals had been released.
The FBI pulled over a auto that spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser described as “a vehicle of interest in the investigation” in Brooklyn on Sunday night. No one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is ongoing, the statement said. “We always have to worry about that in these types of situations”, said chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
“They looked like they were two gentlemen just strolling up and down Seventh Avenue, at the time”, Boyce said.
Later the police released the name of an Afghanistan-born American citizen, Ahmad Khan Rahami, they are seeking for questioning in connection with both the NY and New Jersey incidents.
Several law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are concerned that an active terror cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area. The sound of the explosion reverberated loudly as heard on video filmed by local media.
He said the men were being sought as potential witnesses. Police say before the men walked away with the bag they removed a pressure cooker and left it behind.
Two homeless men found a backpack in the trash, thinking there was something of value in it.
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Investigators didn’t immediately say whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to the blast in NY. The device used was described as a pipe bomb set off with a cellphone trigger.
