TRIAL BEGINS IN NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY BOMB ATTACKS

A man accused of setting off a pressure cooker bomb in the New York City suburbs that injured 30 people was a “soldier in a holy war” bent on carrying out a murderous plot with maximum carnage, federal prosecutors said Monday at the start of his trial. Ahmad Khan Rahimi assembled bombs after watching how-to videos.

Rahimi planted a pipe bomb at a charity race in Seaside Park, N.J., that exploded but didn’t injure anyone, prosecutors said. Rahimi’s defense attorney, Meghan Gilligan, asked jurors to keep an open mind.