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 neighborhood and for a blast earlier that day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, authorities said.
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The heightened alert comes as world leaders are gathering Monday for the United Nations General Assembly.
Bomb techs from the FBI, Union County, and the New Jersey State Police have arrived on the scene and are now rendering the area safe.
He added that the all the bomb fragments “are going to have to be picked up so the FBI can investigate them”.
Authorities in Elizabeth, about 10 miles from New York City, responded late Sunday night to calls of a suspicious package, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark said.
All of those who were injured by the explosion had been released from hospital by Sunday afternoon.
Officials said it did not appear that those two incidents were connected, though they were not ruling anything out.
Surveillance footage shows the same man near the explosion, and where the pressure cooker was found.
He is 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized USA citizen from Afghanistan.
Investigators didn’t immediately comment on whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to either of the two blasts. The attacker apparently asked victims whether they were Muslim before stabbing them, reported Sky News and CNN.
A man also stabbed nine people at a St. Cloud, Minnesota mall on Saturday too.
What we don’t know: CNN can not independently confirm that ISIS was behind the attack.
A total of 29 people were injured when a device detonated on 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Authorities are still investigating whether that bombing is linked to explosive devices found nearby in Manhattan and in two sites in New Jersey. Other bombs were found in Elizabeth, one of which exploded as authorities investigated.
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) – A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said.
What we know: A backpack containing up to five explosive devices was found in a wastebasket in Elizabeth, New Jersey, around 9.30 p.m. on Sunday.
The FBI is leading the investigation.
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“The robot indicated it could be suspicious and it could be a live bomb”, Mr. Bollwage said, adding that police would decide how to remove it.
