NYC bomb suspect inspired by ISIS
NEW YORK — The suspect in a bomb attack in New York City’s transit system Monday told investigators he had been inspired by Islamic State’s recent call for attacks in Western cities around the Christmas holidays, a federal law enforcement official said.
The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Bangladesh native Akayed Ullah, was injured by the explosion and in custody after authorities said he detonated a makeshift pipe bomb near Times Square that also left four other people injured and
snarled Manhattan transit.
President Donald Trump cited the suspect as an argument for his crackdown on legal as well as illegal immigration, after the administration said the man entered the country in 2011 on a family immigrant visa.
“Today’s attempted mass murder attack in New York City — the second terror attack in New York in the last two months — once again highlights the urgent need for Congress to enact legislative reforms to protect the American people,” Trump said in a statement.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders asserted that the attack could have been prevented if the U.S. had canceled the ability of American citizens to sponsor relatives for visas, which the president calls chain migration.
“We know that the president’s policy calls for an end to chain migration, which is what this individual came to the United States through,” Sanders said. “And if his policy had been in place, then that attacker would not have been allowed to come in the country.”
Ullah, a lawful permanent resident, was admitted to the U.S. in 2011 on a family immigrant visa, according to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. The specific class of visa he had, an F43, is for nieces and nephews of U.S. citizens 21 and older, according to a guide on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
U.S. citizens are allowed to sponsor siblings for lawful permanent residency; those siblings, if admitted, can ask to bring their children. Trump called that policy “incompatible with national security.”
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission confirmed to several news outlets that from 2012 to 2015, Ullah held a for-hire vehicle driver’s license, which covers black cabs, liveries and limousines.
Law enforcement officials were canvassing Brooklyn addresses with possible connections to Ullah, including a residence in the Flatlands neighborhood and another in Kensington, which is home to a large Bangladeshi population. Members of Ullah’s family said in a statement that they are heartbroken and deeply saddened by the suffering the attack has caused, The Associated Press reported.
The statement — released on the family’s behalf by Albert Fox Cahn, legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in New York — also said they are outraged by the way family members were targeted by law enforcement, including pulling a teenage relative from class and questioning him without a parent, guardian or attorney present. The family said it expects more from the justice system.
Trump also cited the attack in pressing for other policies, including his ban on travel to the United States by people from eight countries. Those nations do not include Bangladesh, according to an administration official.
Ullah appears to have planned the attack on his own, and was “self-radicalized” after being admitted to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 2011, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.
Supporters of Islamic State, also known as ISIS, recently shared on chat apps an image of Santa Claus and a box of explosives in Times Square under the words: “We meet at Christmas in New York … soon.”
“This was an attempted terrorist attack,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the attack, which occurred at about 7:20 a.m. EST in an underground passageway that connects two subway lines on 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan.
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Ullah was wearing an “improvised lowtech explosive device” attached to his body, which he intentionally detonated.
The suspect suffered burns to his hands and abdomen and was taken to Bellevue Hospital. Three other people in the area suffered minor injuries, such as ringing in the ears and headaches, New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
A fourth person suffered minor injuries after falling to the ground, a spokesman for the New York Police Department later said.
Authorities said the incident, which was captured on transit system video, appeared to be isolated.
Nina Agrawal reported from New York and Brian Bennett and Noah Bierman from Washington.