Christie said all train and transit systems had been inspected after the explosion in Elizabeth. At least one device was accidentally detonated by a bomb robot during a subsequent investigation, and the remaining bombs were transferred to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va. “Any suspicious activity should be reported to the police immediately”.
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As a bomb squad robot dealt with the device, it “cut a wire and it exploded”, Bollwage told CNN.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the bombings in New York City and a shore town in New Jersey, immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan.
Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had responded earlier to the Elizabeth NJ Transit station after two homeless men found a suspicious bag there around 8:30 p.m. Sunday; devices in the bag were later determined to be explosive. Two men discovered the backpack, filled with suspicious devices, in a trash can just 500 feet from the train tracks. They saw “wires and a pipe” and called police, who tested the device and found it “could be a bomb”.
New Jersey Transit service trains resumed service on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line at 5:30 a.m. Monday, but they faced residual delays because service was suspended after the devices were found.
In the block-by-block search after the Saturday’s explosion, two former state troopers found a possible secondary device a few blocks away on 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, said James O’Neill, the city’s police commissioner.
The second attack happened Saturday night at around 8:30 p.m.in New York City’s bustling Chelsea neighborhood, known for its vibrant nightlife.
The device was transported to the NYPD Bomb Squad facility at Rodman’s Neck Range in the Bronx.
The FBI released a wanted poster for Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, a naturalized USA citizen of Afghan descent. “There are no injuries and law enforcement personnel are at the scene processing evidence”, it added.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of NY and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park. Law enforcement are working to disable the other devices found in the backpack. Officials say the device used was a pressure cooker bomb also set off by a cellphone trigger.
All of those injured have been released from hospitals, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“I can imagine that if all five of them went off at the same time, that the loss of life could have been enormous if there was an event going on”, Bollwage said.
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Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure-cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it.
