Police investigating the bombings in NY and New Jersey have been saying for several days they were looking for the men, who they stressed were being sought as potential witnesses in the case, not as suspects. The men are considered witnesses and are not in danger of being arrested, officials said Wednesday. Officials allege Rahami is behind the cluster of pipe bombs found near a commuter rail station in his hometown of Elizabeth, N.J., late Sunday, and an unexploded pressure cooker on 27th Street, blocks from the blast site that rocked the city on a warm summer night. Not finding him there, they took the unusual step of sending out an emergency bulleting to millions of mobile phones in NY and New Jersey, asking the public to keep a lookout for him.
Advertisement
At a news conference on Wednesday, James Waters, the NYPD counterterrorism bureau chief, speculated that the two men’s handling of the device may have inadvertently deactivated it, calling them “very, very lucky”.
While no one was hurt on West 27th Street, another bomb that authorities say was left by Rahami exploded on West 23rd Street and injured 29 people on Saturday evening.
His fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene of the Manhattan bombing, they said.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested on Monday after a gunfight with police in New Jersey.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is asking the public for help in locating two men who allegedly found a piece of luggage on a NY sidewalk that contained an explosive device that may be tied to the suspect in Saturday’s bombings in NY and New Jersey.
Law enforcement recovered a “rambling” journal on Rahami when he was captured that referenced Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIS spokesman killed in a US airstrike, and Anwar al-Awlaki, the American al-Qaida cleric killed in a drone strike, authorities have said. Speaking in Urdu, Rahami said his son was not the same after that trip.
Authorities say Rahami planted bombs in Chelsea, Seaside Park and Elizabeth over the weekend. A senior law enforcement official said she has been cooperative “to a certain degree”. The official, who has knowledge of the investigation, was not authorized to comment publicly. At least one bullet narrowly missed vital organs, officials said.
“He has been held and questioned by federal law enforcement agents since his arrest”, David Patton, head of the New York City federal public defenders office, said in a court filing.
Rahami, 28, is believed to have traveled to Afghanistan through Pakistan at least three times for months-long visits from 2005 to 2014, a USA official told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
In one section of Rahami’s journal, he wrote, “Inshallah (God willing), the sounds of bombs will be heard in the streets”.
Authorities are still trying to determine whether Rahami, an American citizen who was born in Afghanistan, acted alone.
U.S. authorities investigated whether Rahami, the naturalised American citizen captured on Monday, had accomplices in the bombings or if he was radicalised during trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Advertisement
Investigators also traced mobile phones used in the bombs to Rahami and said he played jihadist videos from social media.
