Police say Rahami is also being sought for questioning in another bombing hours before the Manhattan explosion, about 135 kilometers south of New York City.
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Earlier on Monday an Afghanistan-born American suspected of detonating the bomb in Chelsea and of planting other devices in NY and New Jersey was arrested following a gun battle with police. A second device, a pressure cooker, was found four blocks away that an early investigation found was likely also a bomb.
The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. A few hours later, one of the pipe bombs detonated when the FBI’s robot attempted to dismantle it, and no one was injured.
This wasn’t the only case of thieves foiling the bomb plots around NY and New Jersey, either, as two other thieves came across a backpack left near a New Jersey train station on Sunday.
Authorities said the blasts were looking increasingly like an act of terrorism with a foreign connection.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Rahami was not believed to be on federal terror watch lists at the time of the blasts.
The attacks came as world leaders prepared to gather at the United Nations in NY for the annual General Assembly.
11 p.m.: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio calls the explosion “an intentional act” but stops short of calling it terrorism, saying “there is no specific and credible threat to New York City from any terror organization”.
Earlier, five people were being questioned by the FBI but none has been charged and the investigation was ongoing.
The situation in NY and New Jersey has been developing mostly after hours, and quickly.
Police continued to search Linden and Elmora streets, close to where the backpack was found, on Monday morning. He has been taken into custody after a shoot-out with police in Linden, New Jersey. He says was one was struck in a protective vest and the other in the hand.
As a police vehicle pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said.
As reports of Rahami being taken in custody were being released, U.S. President Barack Obama said he saw no connection between the explosions and a separate weekend incident where a man stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead.
Citing the FBI, New Jersey State Police said Monday that the bombings in Chelsea and the New Jersey shore town Seaside Park were connected.
“Now for all New Yorkers, a central message we want to give today is be vigilant”, de Blasio said during a news conference.
Rahami lived with his family above their fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, and his relatives have clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints they said were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment.
No injuries were reported in the blast, and there was no damage to surrounding buildings.
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Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Ahmad Rahami working there more.
