Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old nationalized US citizen born in Afghanistan, was arrested by police after a shootout in the city of Linden, New Jersey. Evidence has “directly linked” Rahami to the improvised explosive devices in NY and Seaside Park in New Jersey, he said. His last known address is located in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
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A federal law enforcement official said a pipe bomb that exploded in New Jersey and two pressure cookers found in NY all contained flip-style cellphones.
Investigators and emergency personnel are working around the clock as they work to find the people behind a powerful explosion in Manhattan that injured 29 people.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Saturday night blast in Manhattan that injured 29 people didn’t appear to be linked to worldwide terrorism. An unexploded pressure-cooker device was also found four blocks away.
“The FBI is asking for assistance in locating Ahmad Khan Rahami”, FBI New York said in a tweet.
Earlier in the day there was an explosion at Seaside Park, New Jersey – 83 miles away – which was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run. No one was injured in the Jersey blast.
“A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity”, said Cuomo, who ordered 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard members deployed across the city.
Earlier Sunday, a team of five Federal Bureau of Investigation agents searched an Uber driver’s vehicle that had been damaged in the Manhattan blast, ripping off the door panels inside as they examined it for evidence.
A 28-year-old naturalised American citizen of Afghan descent was arrested today by U.S. authorities following a shootout hours after the NY mayor conceded that the blast that injured 29 people here could be an act of “terrorism” with foreign links. The police and fire departments both report that none of the injuries appear life-threatening. “I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but [it had] some kind of black, plastic rectangular device connected by two wires to this pressure cooker”.
There has been a loud explosion in the area of the scene of a police investigation of a suspicious device found near at New Jersey train station.
“The robot that went in to disarm it, cut a wire and it exploded”, Bollwage said.
She wouldn’t provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation said five people in the vehicle were being questioned at an FBI building in lower Manhattan.
“This was an explosive” containing as many as five devices, Bollwage said.
The explosion in Elizabeth occurred hours after similar explosives detonated in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and Seaside Park, NJ.
“Today’s information suggests it may be foreign related, but we’ll see where it goes”, he said. The FBI and ATF have launched a joint raid in Elizabeth, New Jersey, specifically the home of Khan, which is above his parent’s fried chicken restaurant.
“We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror”, de Blasio said.
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Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami but were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might later face charges.
