The suspect in the Port Authority explosion has been identified as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old man who lives Brooklyn and is of Bangladeshi descent.
Ullah carried out the attack for revenge, according to The New York Post. And sources said that Ullah told authorities that he was inspire by ISIS, according to ABC News.
“They’ve been bombing in my country and I wanted to do damage here,” sources said Ullah told investigators, according to the New York Post.
Joe Borelli (Twitter)
On Monday morning, Ullah detonated an improvised explosive device in Port Authority Bus Terminal around 7:20 am EST, injuring three other people and himself. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he is being interviewed by investigators and treated for lacerations and burns to his hands and abdomen.
Ullah had the improvised explosive device affixed to him with Velcro and zip ties, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter Terrorism John Miller said.
According to CNN, Ullah told police he made the device at his workplace. He recently worked for an electrical company, NBC News reported.
A spokesman for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission said that Ullah held a for-hire vehicle driver’s license from March 2012 to March 2015.
Talal Ansari (Twitter)
It is unclear if Ullah intended to detonate the device in the Port Authority Bus Terminal or if he planned on carrying out the attack in another location.
“Let’s be clear that this was an attempted terrorist attack,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference earlier Monday morning.
An explosion at Manhattan’s extremely busy transportation hub, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, was reported around 7:20 a.m. EST, the height of rush hour.
NYPD sources have said it was a pipe bomb explosion in an underground passageway that connects the 7th and 8th Avenue tracks, and that the suspect might have been on his way toward Times Square.
Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the suspect was reportedly wearing a pipe bomb that was strapped to him – a suicide vest.
The FDNY initially reported one non-life-threatening injury, and it was confirmed that the injury is the suspect, who is male. The FDNY later reported that there have been “a total of 4” non-life-threatening injuries.
