FBI hunt for 'Afghan-born US man' over NY bombing

FBI hunt for 'Afghan-born US man' over NY bombing
Police have released a photo of a 28-year-old Afghan-born US man wanted for questioning in connection with a weekend bombing in New York that injured 29 people.
2 min read
19 September, 2016
The release of Rahami's name is the first major breakthrough in the investigation since attack[Getty]

An Afghan-born US man is wanted in connection with the weekend bombing in New York that injured 29 people as a packet of bombs were found in his New Jersey hometown.

The weekend attack, along with a stabbing spree in Minnesota carried out by a Somali-American whom police said made "references to Allah" and a pipe bomb explosion along the route of a Marine Corps race in New Jersey have raised security fears less than two months before the US presidential election.

Federal investigators released a mugshot of 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, who has brown hair and a brown beard, saying he was last known to live in Elizabeth, a town adjacent to Newark International Airport.

The FBI said a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices was found overnight at the train station in Elizabeth.

In the course of trying to defuse the devices, the bomb squad accidentally detonated one of them, causing no injuries, the FBI said.

 Police released this photo of Ahmad Khan Rahami

The release of Rahami's name is the first major breakthrough in the investigation since the bomb exploded in New York's Chelsea on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glass and sending shrapnel flying across the street.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama, who was in New York with other world leaders at the UN General Assembly, had been "updated through the night" and on Monday by his national security team.

"Our investigators are continuing to do really good work to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here. The president's fully supporting them. He's the one that's in the loop being updated on this regularly," Earnest told CNN.

Police and the FBI said Rahami was "wanted" for questioning. He "could be armed and dangerous," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio warned on CNN.