Terror in Manhattan as bomber blows himself up
Four hurt as suicide vest attacker strikes near bus station
‘The panic was so scary’
CRUMPLED on the ground, a former cab driver lies wounded after trying to bring IS-inspired terror to rush-hour New York yesterday. Bangladeshi Akayed Ullah, 27, had strapped a crude pipe bomb to his body with the intention of targeting morning commuters.
But the ‘improvised’ suicide device appears to have detonated prematurely.
Photographs showed him curled up on the ground, his clothes ripped and his exposed stomach blackened and scorched.
Ullah reportedly told police officers later that he carried out the attack in revenge for Israeli actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
It followed a Muslim ‘day of rage’ – including in Bangladesh – last week over Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Ullah, who has lived in the US since 2011, had attached the potentially catastrophic bomb to his body with velcro and cable ties.
CCTV captured him walking casually through a crowded passageway at the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square at 7.20am when the bomb went off.
As a plume of white smoke cleared, it revealed the suspect sprawled on the ground as dozens of terrified commuters fled.
The explosion caused instant panic, sending dozens of commuters running. Four people went to hospital with minor injuries.
Eyewitness Alicja Wlodkowski said: ‘A woman fell and nobody even went to stop and help her because the panic was so scary.’
Investigators said it was not clear whether or not Ullah had set the bomb off early intentionally, but officials suggested that it was an accident.
The bus station, the busiest in the country with around 65million users every day, was evacuated, along with part of the city’s subway system.
Ullah, who was later reported to be in a serious condition in hospital with cuts and burns to his hands and body, is believed to have acted alone.
The former cab driver lives in Brooklyn. He moved to the US seven years ago with his parents and siblings.
Officials say he was granted a visa that gives preferential treatment to those who have family who are US citizens.
The White House said yesterday Mr Trump had vowed to end such ‘chain migration’.
The immigrant had no criminal record in Bangladesh and last visited the country in September, police in his home country said.
Ullah, whose taxi licence expired in 2015, reportedly told officers at his hospital bedside that he carried out the attack for revenge and had made the bomb inside his flat in Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway neighbourhood.
According to the New York Post, he told investigators: ‘They’ve been bombing in my country and I wanted to do damage here.’
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the suspect was ‘disgruntled’ and ‘went to the internet to try to get information about how to make a home-made bomb’.
Mr Cuomo called the incident ‘one of our worst nightmares’, adding: ‘This is New York. We are a target by many who would like to make a statement against democracy, against freedom.
‘We have the Statue of Liberty in our harbour and that makes us an international target.’
New York mayor Bill de Blasio said: ‘Let’s be clear that this was an attempted terrorist attack. But the terrorists won’t win.’
Asked if the suspect claimed to have any connection to IS, New York police commissioner James P O’Neill said that ‘he did make statements’ but refused to elaborate.
But it is thought investigators believe Ullah was inspired by IS but had no contact with the group.
The attack is the second to take place in the city in recent weeks. Uzbeki Sayfullo Saipov is accused of killing eight people in October by ploughing a truck into pedestrians and cyclists in Manhattan.