According to The Independent, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami is being sought by the New York Police Department in connection to the Chelsea bombing, as officials believe he may be the man seen on surveillance video of the explosion.
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Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, a USA citizen born in Afghanistan, was taken into custody after an apparent shootout with police in which he was wounded and two police officers were shot.
The intense investigation into the weekend bomb blasts in NY and New Jersey is leading authorities to signs of a possible terror cell in those two states, law enforcement officials told CNN Monday.
Earlier today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation found five explosive devices at a train station in New Jersey.
President Barack Obama Monday called on Americans “not to succumb to fear” after bomb attacks in NY and New Jersey and a mass stabbing incident in Minnesota over the weekend.
Although no worldwide group had claimed responsibility, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo said detonating a bomb in New York City “is obviously an act of terrorism”. “We don’t know yet”, de Blasio said. “We need to get this guy right away”.
He continued, “But boy we are living in a time – we better get very tough, folks”.
Early Monday, FBI agents flocked to an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that the authorities said was tied to Rahami.
Meanwhile, a suspicious device exploded near a New Jersey Transit train station while a bomb squad worked to disarm it early Monday morning.
This undated photo provided by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of NY and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park. The police and fire departments both report that none of the injuries appear life-threatening.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called it an “intentional act” but declined to call it terrorism.
Cuomo, in a separate interview on MSNBC, said: “Today’s information suggests it may be foreign related but we’ll see where it goes. My operating premise is anytime, anywhere, seven days a week you could have an incident like this”.
Around the time Rahami was taken into custody, President Barack Obama was in NY on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the UN General Assembly, and said it was “extremely fortunate” nobody was killed in the bombings.
Cuomo says he spoke to President Barack Obama on Monday.
Five people were stopped on Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Mr Sweeney said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing case. A news agency linked to the Islamic State called him a soldier of the terrorist group, and police said he asked at least one victim whether they were Muslim before assaulting them and referred to Allah during the attacks.
As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said.
At a press conference Saturday night, the de Blasio cautioned that the investigation was still in the early stages and there was little that authorities could definitively say about the explosion.
On Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded in a garbage pail along the route of a five-km charity run sponsored by the U.S. Marine in New Jersey’s Seaside Park, the Ocean County, about 129 km south of New York City. The race was canceled. One bomb injured 31 people in Manhattan.
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The stabbings at Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud happened in several stores, and off-duty police officer Jason Falconer has been hailed a “hero” after shooting dead the attacker who lunged at him with a knife.
