New York explosion: Police who stopped 'pipe bomb' attack in New York hailed heroes
Four New York police officers were hailed as heroes today for pinning an alleged terrorist to the ground after his homemade bomb detonated at a busy transit hub.
The officers jumped on top of Akayed Ullah in a subway underpass when his explosive device blew up, sending smoke everywhere and causing mass panic.
The police even grabbed a mobile phone from Ullah’s hand which they feared he could use to trigger another blast - and tore the crude pipe bomb-style device off his body.
It was claimed the Bangladeshi immigrant chose the underpass between Times Square and Port Authority Bus Terminal because it had Christmas posters on its walls.
The New York Times reported that the posters reminded him of the attacks in Europe, especially the one nearly a year ago to the day in Berlin at a Christmas market that left 12 dead.
Ullah, 27, is being treated as a “lone wolf” by anti-terrorism police who believe he carried out the failed attack during yesterday’s morning rush hour after becoming self-radicalised online by Islamist propaganda.
He allegedly fashioned his device out of a 12 inch length of pipe stuffed with match heads, sugar, a battery and Christmas lights as the detonator.
The former cab driver set the device off around 7.20am, causing a stampede as people tried to flee.
Port Authority police officer Anthony Manfredini, 28, a former Marine, ran towards the smoke and found Ullah on the ground with “visible wires coming from his jacket into his (trousers)”, according to police union spokesman Robert Egbert.
Mr Egbert said that three officers followed: Jack Collins, 45, Sean Gallagher, 26, another former Marine, and Drew Preston, 36, a US Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. They arrived just as Ullah was “reaching for a cellphone”. The officers dived and wrestled it from him, fearing he could be about to trigger the device again.
Mr Egbert said: “These officers went into this situation blind, only becoming aware of the danger involved once they confronted the suspect.”
Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole added: “Thanks to the quick response of these brave Port Authority Police officers, the suspect was apprehended, there were no serious injuries and the PABT was secured without further incident.
“Our officers responded immediately and put themselves in harm’s way to protect the public.”
The men were also praised by the White House.
“These brave first responders and others who rushed to the scene are heroes,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
Ullah was being treated in hospital for severe wounds to his torso, which was left blackened. Four members of the public suffered minor injuries.
Initial reports said that the device blew up prematurely, but a law enforcement official said they had video footage showing him “connect the wires”.
The official said: “I think he was prepared to die.”
At Ullah’s home in Flatbush, Brooklyn, neighbours said they heard him rowing with his family in recent days and described him as “just nasty”.
Police reportedly arrested his mother who was seen being led away and driven off in a police car.
His brother has also been detained for questioning and in a statement the family expressed their anger at their treatment.
In a statement read by Albert Fox Cahn, the Legal Director for the New York Chapter Council for Islamic Relations, the family said: “We are heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today and by the allegations being made against a member of our family.
“But we’re also outraged by the behaviour of the law enforcement officials who held children as small as four years old out in the cold and who pulled a teenager out of high school classes to interrogate him without lawyer, without his parents.”
In a statement President Donald Trump said that the attack was further evidence of the “flawed system” of immigration which he said he was working to improve.
