New York bombing: Police hunt for Ahmad Khan Rahami

New York bombing: Police hunt for Ahmad Khan Rahami

Hours before Ahmad Khan Rahami ‘s name was released, police discovered five pipe bombs near a train station in Elizabeth

An image of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is wanted for questioning in connection with an explosion in New York City. Photo: FBI/Handout via Reuters

Police are searching for a 28-year-old man, described as a naturalized citizen of Afghan descent, Ahmad Khan Rahami, in connection with the bombing in Manhattan on Saturday night, sending an unprecedented cellphone alert to millions of residents.

“I want to be very clear that this individual could be armed and dangerous,” Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said Monday morning. “Anyone seeing him should call 911 immediately.”

De Blasio would not go into detail about why Rahami was wanted, but he said finding him was critical to the safety of the city.

“What we do know is we need to get this guy right away,” he said.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who said on Sunday that the attack did not appear to have a link to international terrorism, said new evidence might change that thinking.

“I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act,” he said on CNN on Monday morning.

Rahami was born on 23 January 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is described as about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 200 pounds. Rahami has brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair.

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A law enforcement official, who agreed to speak about the investigation only on the condition of anonymity, said they had evidence that Rahami was connected not just to the Manhattan explosion in the Chelsea neighbourhood, but also to a bombing that took place earlier on Saturday on the Jersey shore.

Hours before his name was released, police discovered five pipe bombs near a train station in Elizabeth, detonating one of them overnight as they sought to disarm them. Before dawn, agents conducted a series of raids in the New Jersey city.

FBI agents with dogs and Elizabeth police officers swarmed a residential neighbourhood of low-rise apartment buildings, multiple family homes and small businesses.

The law enforcement official said that while there was no direct evidence yet linking Rahami to the Islamic State or al-Qaida, much about him remained unknown.

“We don’t know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired,” the official said. “We don’t have any of that.” AFP