A man has been charged with terror and weapons counts after Monday’s bomb attack in the New York City subway system.
Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant, has been charged with supporting an act of terrorism, making a terror-related threat and criminal possession of a weapon under New York state law, the New York Police Department said.
U.S. authorities may also bring federal charges, the department said.
In Monday’s attack, a crude pipe bomb was strapped to a man’s body and it was set off in an underground corridor of the subway system that connects Times Square to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at rush hour on Monday morning.
Ullah was seriously wounded. Three other people were also hurt.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called it an attempted terrorist attack, and U.S. officials said it appeared to be a rare if not unprecedented attempt at suicide bombing on U.S. soil.
Ullah survived with burns and lacerations and was taken to hospital in police custody. The three bystanders sustained minor injuries.
Bangladesh’s government condemned the attack.
The government said in a statement that “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, including Monday morning’s incident in New York City.”
Officials said Tuesday that Bangladesh counterterrorism officers are questioning Ullah’s wife and other relatives.
Police and relatives said Ullah last visited Bangladesh in September to see his wife and newborn son, who stayed behind when he returned to the U.S.
Ullah arrived in the United States in 2011, and the Department of Homeland Security said he is a lawful permanent resident who was living in Brooklyn. He came to the U.S. on a visa issued to him based on a family connection to a U.S. citizen.
Ullah’s uncle, Abdul Ahad, said his nephew mostly remained inside a small apartment in Dhaka’s Hazribagh area when he recently visited Bangladesh.
“He went out of his residence to offer prayers at a nearby mosque,” Ahad told The Associated Press.
He said Ullah arrived in Bangladesh on Sept. 8 and returned to New York on Oct. 22.
Police officers patrol the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City on Tuesday, near the site of Monday’s explosion. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)
“He stayed with his wife and six-month-old baby boy,” he said, adding that Ullah was a quiet person who rarely socialized.
Ahad said Ullah also returned to Bangladesh two years ago to get married and stayed for about three months.
Ahad, Ullah’s wife and her parents are being interrogated by officials from Bangladesh’s counterterrorism and transnational crime department, said Abdul Mannan, an official involved in the investigation.
Mannan said Ullah appeared to have no criminal record in Bangladesh and was not a known member of any militant group.
