New York bombing suspect captured in police shootout

New York bombing suspect captured in police shootout
US police wounded and captured an Afghan-born American on Monday, after several bombings in New York and New Jersey stoked fear among civilians.
3 min read
19 September, 2016
The suspect was injured in the shootout on Monday [Getty]

US authorities captured a man wanted for the bombings in New York and New Jersey, identifying the bomber as Afghan-born American, Ahmad Khan Rahami.

Police forces wounded and captured during the shootout with the "armed and dangerous" 28-year-old on Monday, just two days after the bombings stoked terror fears across the country.

Footage broadcast on local ABC News showed Rahami being stretched into an ambulance moments after being arrested by police.

The weekend attack, came along with a stabbing spree in Minnesota that was carried out by a Somali-American whom police said made "references to Allah".

 A simultaneous  pipe bomb explosion along the route of a Marine Corps race in New Jersey  also raised security fears less than two months before the US presidential election.

Officials confirmed Rahami was injured in his leg and was undergoing surgery at a hospital, while two officers were also wounded in the shootout.

US citizen Rahami - who was seen in surveillance footage taken in the area before the bomb went off - was born in Afghanistan and worked at a family restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Police said the suspect had not been previously known to law enforcement except in connection with a domestic complaint which was later retracted.

In 2011, Rahami's family sued authorities in Elizabeth, accusing the city of discrimination after authorities forced them to close their chicken restaurant by 10pm.

The suit was settled in 2012 in the city's favour, with a ruling that the city could close the restaurant, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters on Monday.

 On Monday, President Barack Obama called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" and stressed there were no connections between the incidents on the East coast and the Minesota stabbing over the weekend.

At least 29 people were injured in the Saturday night bombing in New York's Chelsea and Saturday morning's New Jersey pip bombing.

Other explosive devices were found close to the scenes of the attacks late on Sunday.

While the investigation is still active, the New York mayor said authorities were not currently looking for any other suspects in connection with what he called "an act of terror" in Chelsea.

"I have no indication there is a cell operating in the area or in the city," Sweeney told a news conference in New York.

City police chief James O'Neill said the investigation would now focus on whether Rahami acted alone and his alleged motives.

No claim of responsibility have yet been made, however a jihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out the Minnesota stabbings.