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Bombing Suspect Plotted For Months, Inspired By Terrorist Leaders

The FBI has released an image of men believed to have taken a suitcase holding a Manhattan bomb that didn’t explode.

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The police commissioner, James O’Neill, said they were considered “witnesses”.

Investigators used the cellphone connected to the device to link the bomb to 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a US citizen of Afghan descent who is now charged in connection to planting bombs in NY as well as New Jersey.

A pressure cooker device was found four blocks away where an explosion in Chelsea injured 29 people. The other bomb left in Manhattan didn’t explode.

Although Ahmad Rahami has been characterized by officials as the only suspect in the bombing campaign so far, court documents supporting the federal charges filed Tuesday suggested another person – likely a family member – may have had some information about the suspect’s planning. The suspect also faces charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer [CNN report] stemming from the shootout.

Rahami’s defense attorney, David Patton, on Wednesday asked for his first court appearance to be scheduled as soon as possible, even if it occurs in his hospital bed.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Rahami, who came to the United States at age 7 and became a naturalized citizen, as embracing militant Islamic views, begging for martyrdom and expressing outrage at the US “slaughter” of Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine. The images were taken from surveillance video that shows them walking on 27th Street between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue in the Chelsea section of Manhattan between 8 and 9 p.m. Saturday. Federal charges in the bombings have yet to be filed.

In them, the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed Rahami, 28, was carrying a journal filled with details of the attacks when he was injured during the police shootout that ultimately led to his arrest Monday.

The complaint includes excerpts from a handwritten journal authorities say they he wrote.

The criminal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY, details why investigators are convinced that Rahami is behind Saturday’s bombings. “Death to your OPPRESSION”, the journal ended. They took out a pressure cooker bomb that was inside, but took off with the luggage.

New Jersey Congressman Albio Sires confirms Rahami sent an email from Pakistan to Sires’ office, wanting to know the status of an entry visa and passport for his wife.

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Authorities were running down several tips phoned in to police after the release of the video Wednesday, a senior law enforcement official said.

FBI Seeking to Locate Two Individuals Who Found Chelsea Bomb Stole Luggage