A US citizen born in Afghanistan has been charged by federal officials in two states with planting bombs in NY and at a military charity run and train station in New Jersey. According to The New York Times, authorities are investigating whether Ahmad had any assistance building the bombs or if anyone knew of his plans beforehand, with particular attention given to trips the suspect made overseas between 2010 and 2014.
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Also Tuesday, investigators disclosed that when Rahami was shot and captured, he had a notebook with him that contained extremist ramblings.
Ahmad Khan Rahami being loaded into an ambulance after a shoot-out with police in Linden, New Jersey, September 19, 2016.
“Defendant has been charged with police attempted murder and is under protective services after possible terrorist related active in NYC”, Maria Mena hand-wrote on the application.
A law enforcement source told The Post at the time of the confrontation with police, he was carrying a notebook containing his pro-jihadist writings, including a reference to slain al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki.
The father of the man suspected in the bombings in NY and New Jersey on Saturday said he called the Federal Bureau of Investigation two years ago to report his son.
Some charges are contained in a federal complaint filed in federal court in NY.
The FBI interviewed Rahami’s father after New Jersey officials compiled complaints and sent them a suspicious activity report.
An FBI investigation is ongoing. It followed a pipe blast earlier in the day in a New Jersey beach town that forced the cancellation of a US Marine Corps run.
The Afghanistan-born man is a naturalized USA citizen.
The two reportedly have a child together.
According to the court complaint, a handwritten journal by Rahami, 28, that championed jihad, included a passage that said: “You (USA Government) continue your (unintelligible) slaught (er)” against the mujahideen, or holy warriors, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Prosecutors said 31 people were wounded in the Chelsea attack, including a victim from Britain, a driver knocked unconscious and a woman whose body was pierced with ball bearings, metal and wood. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away.Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station.
Another law enforcement official said the father “recanted the whole story” about his son associating with terrorists.
“But they checked, nearly two months, and they say, ‘He’s OK, he’s clear, he’s not terrorist.’ Now they say he’s a terrorist”, the father, Mohammad Rahami, said.
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“He doing bad, he stabbed my son, he hit my wife”, he told reporters yesterday, explaining why he had alerted agents two years ago.
