Subway Bomber Took Inspiration from ISIS

One day after a would-be suicide bomber detonated an improvised pipe bomb in one of Manhattan’s busiest transit centers, injuring himself and three others and triggering a massive law enforcement response that disrupted the morning commute for thousands of New Yorkers, the scene at the Port Authority Bus Terminal had largely returned to normal, aside from a visibly increased security presence and lingering news cameras filming the usual bustle of commuters and tourists.

Monday morning’s blast, in an underground passageway near 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, resulted in only minor injuries to bystanders but forced the suspension of service at the nearby Port Authority Bus Terminal, at the subway station there and at Times Square. At about 7:20 a.m., Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, detonated an “improvised, low-tech explosive device attached to his body” in the underground passageway connecting the Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue subway platforms at 42nd Street, according to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill.

The bomb, built from a metal pipe filled with screws that Ullah attached to his body with zip ties, failed to detonate as intended. Police responded to the explosion and found Ullah injured on the ground. He was taken into custody and transported to Bellevue Hospital with burns and cuts to his body. Three others who were nearby when the bomb detonated were hospitalized with minor injuries.

“This was an attempted terrorist attack,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference shortly after the incident. “Thank God the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals.”

According to prosecutors, Ullah admitted that he drew inspiration from the attack from the Islamic State and had viewed radical content online as far back as 2014. A court-authorized search of Ullah’s apartment revealed pipes and screws consistent with pieces of the bomb recovered at the scene of the attack. Prosecutors said that Ullah began researching how to build bombs a year ago and planned the Port Authority attack for several weeks, selecting the time and location in hopes of maximizing human casualties.

Ullah now faces five federal criminal counts, including providing material support to a terrorist organization and using or attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Additional NYPD units were deployed to transit hubs across the city as a precautionary measure, but police are unaware of any further specific threats, officials said.

The increased police presence around the Port Authority had little apparent impact on events the day after the attack, as commuters poured off subway trains at the 42nd Street station and appeared to continue about their days unfazed. But the previous day’s incident, just six weeks after a jihadist-inspired vehicle attack in Lower Manhattan that killed eight, still weighed on the mind of at least one traveler. “I’m one of those people that think about that kind of stuff every day,” said Jacqueline Jamaleddine, a commuter at the Port Authority. “Am I going to be on the train when a terrorist attack happens? Because little ones just keep happening.”

Liz Hardaway and Carson Kessler contributed to this report.