Suspect charged with supporting terrorism
The man held with a pipe bomb strapped to his body in Manhattan yesterday has said that he was inspired by ISIS and was retaliating for US airstrikes on IS in Syria, law enforcement officials told the New York Times.
The accused, Akayed Ullah, has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terroristic threat, the New York Police Department said today.
Police officials are now looking at all facets of Ullah’s life to find a motive behind the attack, which left five people injured. Three other people sustained non-life threatening injuries, police said.
While reports suggest that Ullah had watched Isis propaganda, there is still no evidence directly linking him in contact with Isis and neither has any group taken responsibility for the attack. The attack took place just days after the US president Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The 27-year-old was being treated at a local hospital for burns to his hands and abdomen after the crude pipe bomb that was strapped to his body exploded.
The Banlageshi immigrant had attached the pipe bomb to himself with a “combination of Velcro and zip ties,” said the commissioner of the New York Police Department. He was wearing an “improvised, low-tech, explosive device attached to his body”, which he detonated intentionally, O’Neill added.
Ullah had moved to the US legally in 2011 with a visa and was currently living in Brooklyn. He had a taxi and limousine license dated from 2012.
“We must move to a merit based system of immigration,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders yesterday.
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