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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)
Police arrested a suspect on Monday after a dramatic manhunt in the wake of two bombing attacks in New York and New Jersey at the weekend and the discovery of five more unexploded bombs. 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, who was identified by authorities as a suspect on Monday morning in connection with the two incidents, was taken into custody soon afterwards following a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, according to officials. 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.
A bombing in Chelsea, Manhattan, on Saturday night injured 29 people and followed a pipe bombing in Seaside Park, New Jersey, the same morning. 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.
Police said surveillance videos in Chelsea led them to Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized US citizen born in Afghanistan. Meanwhile five people pulled over in a vehicle on Sunday night were being questioned by the FBI, officials said. 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.
Rahami was wounded during his capture along with at least two Linden police officers, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Images and video from his arrest in front of a Linden auto-body shop show him being placed conscious in an ambulance with a substantial injury to his right shoulder. 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.
The shootout erupted after police discovered him asleep in the doorway of a New Jersey bar. Linden’s mayor, Derek Armstead, said that the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in the doorway of his business. A police officer went to investigate and recognized the man as Rahami, police and the mayor said. 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.
The explosion in Chelsea on Saturday night was followed by the discovery of an unexploded bomb a few streets away, and came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park ahead of a race for marines and sailors, with no injuries. 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.
Also on Saturday, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Authorities have not drawn any connection between the violence in Minnesota and the bombings in the New York area. 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.
Early on Monday morning five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey; one exploded as the bomb squad attempted to disarm it with a robot. 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”.
The investigation into the Afghan-born Rahami “might suggest a foreign connection to the action, which would then obviously raise an issue of the foreign nature of this attack”, New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, told CNN. “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.”
Cuomo said that as investigators gathered information, they learned there were “certain commonalities among the bombs”, leading authorities to believe “that there was a common group behind the bombs”. 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.
A mass alert was sent to cellphone users throughout the New York region seeking Rahami’s whereabouts, the first time the emergency warning system has been used in a criminal search, according to New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio. “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.
The Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, addressed the bombings on Monday, calling herself the only candidate in the 2016 election equipped to deal with the problem of terrorism. “This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. We will prevail. We will defend our country and we will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists,” Clinton said. Speaking at a New York police department briefing, commissioner James O’Neill said police were not seeking a second suspect.
The Saturday night blast in Chelsea injured 29 after detonating inside a dumpster. The bomb was made with a pressure cooker, cellphone, Christmas lights, and packed with metallic fragmentation material like BBs (air gun shot) to cause maximum possible damage. The construction was said to be similar to the improvised devices that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev used to kill three and injure hundreds at the 2013 Boston Marathon. 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”.
Another similar device was found four blocks away but did not detonate on Saturday. 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.”
All 29 injured in Chelsea on Saturday have been released from the hospital. “My guess is the intention was to do more damage than they did,” Cuomo said. 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.”
In the initial aftermath of the explosion, De Blasio and Cuomo both stated there was no apparent involvement from outside groups. “A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism,” Cuomo said Sunday. “But it’s not linked to international terrorism in other words we find no Isis connection, etc.” 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”.
The attacks come with the city already on high alert to the UN general assembly scheduled to take place this week. Additional security is also in place in the city due to Barack Obama being in town over the weekend with his daughters. “We have more security forces probably than ever in history right now,” Cuomo said. “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.”
Obama said it was “extremely fortunate” nobody was killed in the bombings and called on Americans to show the world “we will never give in to fear”. 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.
“We all have a role to play as citizens to make sure we don’t succumb to that fear. And there’s no better example of that than the people of New York and New Jersey,” the president said. “Folks around here, they don’t get scared.” “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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report Additional reporting by Amber Jamieson in Elizabeth, New Jersey