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Suspect in New York bombing arrested after shootout with police | Suspect in New York bombing arrested after shootout with police |
(35 minutes later) | |
A shootout on the streets on New Jersey ended a dramatic manhunt on Monday as police arrested a man suspected of involvement in weekend bombings that injured 29 people in New York. | |
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized US citizen born in Afghanistan, had hours earlier been named in a “wanted” alert sent to millions local cellphones as Manhattan prepared to host world leaders at the United Nations general assembly. | |
Police believe Rahami may have been linked to Saturday’s bombing in Chelsea and another unexploded device found nearby, both constructed in pressure cookers packed with metallic fragmentation material. | |
But fears of an active terror cell grew earlier on Monday morning when five other suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and one exploded as the bomb squad attempted to disarm it with a robot. | |
It it thought that these were connected with a third incident in New Jersey on Saturday when a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park and narrowly missed a race for marines and sailors due that morning. | |
Two police officers were shot and injured after they discovered Rahimi asleep in the doorway of a bar in Linden, New Jersey, late on Monday morning. Linden’s mayor, Derek Armstead, said that the owner of the bar reported someone asleep in the doorway of his business and police officer who went to investigate recognized the man as Rahami. | |
Rahami pulled a gun and shot the officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, in the torso, and more officers joined in a running gun battle down the street and brought Rahami down, police captain James Sarnicki said. | Rahami pulled a gun and shot the officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, in the torso, and more officers joined in a running gun battle down the street and brought Rahami down, police captain James Sarnicki said. |
Speaking in a televised address to the country, Barack Obama stressed that the three east coat incidents were not thought to be directly linked to a separate stabbing incident at a shopping mall in Minnesota, but this too was being treated as possible act of terrorism. | |
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the stabbing rampage in which a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer on Saturday. | |
Amid mounting concern that the series of apparent terrorism incidents could provide political ammunition for Donald Trump, Obama called on Americans to show the world that “we do not give into fear”. | |
“At moments like this it is important to remember what terrorist and violent extremists are trying to do,” the president said in a televised statement in New York. “They are trying to hurt innocent people but they also want to inspire fear in all of us and disrupt the way we live and undermine our values. So even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive in preventing acts of senseless violence, we all have a role to play as citizens to make sure we don’t succumb that fear.” | |
Although not referring to reports of an arrest and leaving details of the unfolding inquiry to the FBI, Obama hinted at a possible foreign terrorist link behind the weekend attacks. | |
“We will continue to lead the global coalition in the fight to destroy Isil, which is instigating a lot of people over the internet to carry out attacks,” he said, using an alternative name for Islamic State. | |
Earlier Hillary Clinton also accused Trump of “giving aid and comfort” to terrorist adversaries by seeking to exploit an unfolding manhunt to help him win November’s election. | |
“We are going to have go after the bad guys and we are going to get them but we are not going to go after an entire religion and give Isis exactly what it is wanting,” Clinton told reporters at a press conference outside New York. | |
“The kinds of rhetoric and language that Mr Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries,” she added. | |
But Trump quickly responded to what he claimed was a “disgusting attempt” by Clinton to distract from US foreign policy failures by suggesting he was a traitor. | |
“Hillary Clinton’s comments today accusing Mr Trump of treason are not only beyond the pale, it’s also an attempt to distract from her horrible record on Isis,” said a campaign spokesman. | |
“If Clinton really wants to find the real cause of Isis, she needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. The decision to remove all American troops from Iraq in 2011, which was vigorously supported by Clinton, created the vacuum that led to the founding of Isis.” | |
“The only thing we can expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency is more attacks on our homeland and more innocent Americans being hurt and killed,” added the Trump statement. | |
“Clinton wants to allow hundreds of thousands of these same people,” Trump also told Fox News on Monday. “They have such hatred and sickness in their heart.” | |
“We chose resolve not fear,” responded Clinton in her press conference. “We will not turn on each other and undermine our values. We are stronger together.” | |
The attacks come as New York in particular was on high security alert for the annual UN gathering and it was unclear on Monday whether further people may have been involved who remain at large. | |
FBI and ATF teams raided Rahami’s home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he apparently lived with his father, but found it empty. The apartment is located above the First American Fried Chicken restaurant that Rahami and his father operated together. | FBI and ATF teams raided Rahami’s home in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he apparently lived with his father, but found it empty. The apartment is located above the First American Fried Chicken restaurant that Rahami and his father operated together. |
Mayor Chris Bollwage of Elizabeth said the chicken store had faced complaints and problems in 2012, when the city council and police ruled that it should close at 10pm. | Mayor Chris Bollwage of Elizabeth said the chicken store had faced complaints and problems in 2012, when the city council and police ruled that it should close at 10pm. |
Speaking at a New York police department briefing, commissioner James O’Neill said police were not seeking a second suspect. | |
FBI agent Bill Sweeney said Rahami, currently undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound in the leg, had been linked to the devices found in New York and New Jersey, but he would not answer questions about any possible links to other people or groups. However, he added: “I have no indication that there’s a cell operating in the area or in the city,” he said, with the caveat that “the investigation is ongoing”. | |
Sweeney stressed a lot of work was still to be done about Rahami’s motivation: “I do not have information yet to show what the path of radicalization was yet.” | |
He added: “We are the number one target in the world, but as far as this investigation, and working with the FBI, I know that I’m a lot happier than I was at this time yesterday.” | |
O’Neill, who took over leadership of the force on Saturday, praised police who identified, traced and caught suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami. He said it had been “an extremely busy day … today our efforts were successful”. | |
“We had two police officers who were injured out in Linden, New Jersey, and I wish them our best.” He added: “For my first day on this job, but certainly not my first day on the job, I’m certainly so proud of what I saw that day.” | |
Mayor Bill de Blasio promised “a very strong and visible NYPD presence because of this incident” and the presence of world leaders, including Obama, at the United Nations general assembly. | |
“You will see our officers in the subway, you will see bags being checked, bomb-sniffing dogs, that will continue throughout the week,” he said. | |
Additional reporting by Amber Jamieson in Elizabeth, New Jersey |