This undated photo provided by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of NY and the New Jersey shore t.
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The bombing investigation began when a pipe bomb blew up Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines.
Similarly, the second bomb in Chelsea was discovered after two passers-by who took a liking to the bag it was in removed the device without detonating it.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is facing charges in two states after investigators say he planted a series of bombs in NY and New Jersey, including one that injured 31 people when it blew up on a busy street.
But the father later told investigators he just meant his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, the officials said.
“He doing bad, he stabbed my son, he hit my wife”, he told reporters.
In the journal, Rahami allegedly expressed fear that he would be caught before being able to carry out the attack, and referenced slain American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, Osama bin Laden and Nidal Hasan, the Army psychologist who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
These latest charges from the US Justice Department are in addition to the multiple charges filed by New Jersey prosecutors for attempting to kill two police officers.
The official, and other US security sources, said Rahami underwent additional security screening upon returning from overseas but passed each time.
He’s also accused of leaving another set of explosives in a trash bin by a train station in another New Jersey town. Two other law enforcement officials confirmed to CNN that Rahami went to Pakistan for approximately a year.
A federal defender is complaining that bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami has not had access to a lawyer since he was arrested in New Jersey on Monday.
According to an affidavit from FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Special Agent Peter Frederick Licata, Rahami’s fingerprints were found on one of the improvised explosive devices that failed to detonate and surveillance video showed him walking down the Manhattan street where one of the bombs went off.
Officials say so far they have found no connection between Rahami and any militant groups, including the Taliban or Islamic State (IS).
The officials were not authorized to publicly reveal details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
She also sought a restraining order preventing Mr. Rahami from removing the child from her home.
Two US officials said Rahami had a small notebook on him when he was apprehended, which one of the officials said contained “ideological” musings. Why did he make lengthy trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan?
According to The New York Times, which first reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation contact, Mohammad Rahami told local police he suspected his son might be involved in terrorism.
His family sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011, accusing it and local police of discrimination because they were Muslim and Afghans, in ordering them to close their restaurant by 10:00 pm.
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He stood trial in front of a grand jury but was not indicted.
