United States prosecutors have pressed new charges against the main suspect in the bombings over the weekend in NY and New Jersey, including using weapons of mass destruction in the two states, with court documents offering the first official explanation of what could be his motive.
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The charges were laid out in a federal complaint that said a handwritten journal was found on the suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, that praised Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks and accused the USA government of slaughtering Islamist fighters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine.
A complaint filed in US District Court in Manhattan contains details from Rahami’s handwritten journal, damaged from a shootout with police, and more evidence from the investigation.
There also were laudatory references to Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki – the American-born Muslim cleric who was killed in a 2011 drone strike and whose preaching has inspired other acts of violence – and Nidal Hasan, the former Army officer who went on a deadly shooting rampage in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, the complaints said.
That call adds to the mystery surrounding Rahami, the man who has been directly linked to Saturday’s bombings in NY and New Jersey.
Conviction on the charges could put Rahami in jail for life. The FBI initiated contact because the father had expressed concern to someone following that episode over his son’s internet use and some of his associates.
Authorities say Rahami planted bombs in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend.
TEMPLE-RASTON: That’s right. For example, the complaint says that Rahami started buying components for his bombs months ago. “His claim prompted a review by the Federal Bureau of Investigation”.
She provided no other details on her relationship with Ahmad Khan Rahami, except to say she last spoke to him by phone in January.
Rahami was born in Afghanistan in 1988 and first came to the United States in 1995, several years after his father arrived seeking asylum, a law enforcement official said.
On Tuesday, Rahami’s father said he called police during that altercation, saying his son was “doing bad”.
Rahami’s wife left the United States a few days before the bombings, CNN reported, citing a law enforcement source. Investigators are now looking through his notebook, and learning more about his history.
Rahami’s father, Mohammad Rahami, spoke with the FBI after the younger Rahami was charged in 2014 with stabbing his brother, according to the officials, who were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
“But they checked, nearly two months, and they say, ‘He’s OK, he’s clear, he’s not terrorist.’ Now they say he’s a terrorist”, the father said.
“[Rahami] told me he was basically left there”, Ehsan said.
The FBI had no immediate comment on the father’s remarks Thursday.
The blasts came two years after the Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into him but found nothing tying him to terrorism. There are mentions of pipe bombs, a pressure cooker bomb and a partial sentence, “in the streets they plan to run a mile”.
The FBI never interviewed Ahmad Rahami, according to officials. Nor was it clear exactly what he supposedly said about his son having terrorist inclinations.
The Afghanistan-born man is a naturalized US citizen.
Parker says all he wants is a good job.
AP spokesman Paul Colford said the news cooperative told law enforcement officials about Rahami’s work at the Cranbury facility.
Another friend confirmed this story, telling CNN he remembers getting a unusual phone call from Rahami, who said he was stuck in Pakistan and needed money.
The complaint said Rahami was motivated by an extremist Islamic ideology he had recorded in a notebook he had with him when he was shot and wounded by the police before being taken into custody.
His family sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011, accusing it and local police of discrimination because they were Muslim and Afghans, in ordering them to close their restaurant by 10:00 pm.
Another bomb exploded harmlessly in a New Jersey seaside town earlier the same day. No one was injured.
It has emerged one British national was among those injured by the pressure-cooker bomb in the Chelsea neighbourhood on Saturday night.
The bomb was a pressure cooker device, packed with ball bearings and steel nuts, placed in a dumpster and detonated by a timed device – similar to a second bomb discovered four blocks away.
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Police found an unexploded bomb nearby in 27th Street, while a bomb disposal robot accidentally set off another package of improvised explosives dumped at Elizabeth railway station in New Jersey.
