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Law Enforcement Officials: New York Bomber Watched Islamic State Propaganda

by VOA News

   NEW YORK --

   Law enforcement officials say the man who set off a crude pipe bomb in
   the New York City subway system Monday had watched Islamic State
   propaganda on the internet and told investigators he acted in
   retaliation for U.S. military aggression.

   Authorities have identified the suspect as 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, a
   Bangladeshi immigrant and former taxi driver. They say he used Velcro
   and zip ties to strap the explosive device to his body, but that it did
   not fully detonate.

   Monday's attack took place in a tunnel that connects the Port Authority
   Bus Terminal and Times Square subway stations. Security video shows the
   attacker walking among the rush-hour crowd and then smoke filling the
   area as the device goes off. The man is then seen laying on the ground
   as people rush away from the scene.

   The attacker was taken to a hospital in serious condition with burns on
   his hands and torso. Three other people suffered headaches and ringing
   in their ears.

   "This was an attempted terrorist attack," said New York Mayor Bill de
   Blasio. "Thank God the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals."

   Albert Fox Cahn, legal director for the Council on American-Islamic
   Relations in New York, issued a statement on behalf of Ullah's family.
   It says they are "heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our
   city today, and by the allegations being made against a member of our
   family."

   The family also questioned the actions of investigators, saying law
   enforcement officials held a teenager out of classes to interrogate him
   without a lawyer or his parents and kept young children out in the
   cold.

   "These are not the sorts of actions that we expect from our justice
   system, and we have every confidence that our justice system will find
   the truth behind this attack and that we will, in the end, be able to
   learn what occurred today," the family said.

   Ullah came to the United States under a visa program for people with
   relatives who are citizens or permanent residents.

   President Donald Trump said Monday's attack shows the need for Congress
   to pass immigration reforms "to protect the American people."

   "Congress must end chain migration," the president said in a statement.
   "The terrible harm that this flawed system inflicts on America's
   security and economy has long been clear. I'm determined to improve our
   immigration system to put our country and our people first."

   Bangladesh's embassy in Washington issued a statement condemning
   Monday's attack.

   "The government of Bangladesh is committed to its declared policy of
   'zero tolerance' against terrorism and condemns terrorism and violent
   extremism in all forms or manifestations anywhere in the world," the
   statement said.

   A massive emergency response above and below the ground shut down the
   area around the attack in midtown Manhattan, but by afternoon the scene
   returned to normal.

   "The fear is always present with us, those of us that live in New
   York," Laura Gonzalez, a New York resident who was in Port Authority
   Monday, told VOA. Gonzalez said that in New York, people learn "to go
   to work, to go shopping, to live the life we need to live."

   "Crazy people are everywhere, every time, and New York is a big place,
   and a public place so it is normal I think," Ruben Schwartz, a tourist
   from Germany, told VOA.

   This was the second apparent terror attack in New York in the past two
   months.

   An ISIS sympathizer drove a rented truck along a bicycle path in
   Manhattan in late October, killing eight.