NYC, NJ bombing suspect taken in shootout
DEBKAfile Special Report
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was apprehended Monday, Sept. 19, after a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, just hours after local and federal authorities launched a massive manhunt to capture him on suspicion of planting bombs in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the Chelsea bombing, in which 29 people were injured, and two bombing incidents in New Jersey. Rahami, a naturalized American citizen born in Afghanistan and resident of New Jersey, was described as "armed and dangerous." The information coming in on the series of terrorist incidents over the weekend points strongly to the presence of a large-scale terrorist network, almost certainly linked to Al Qaeda, in New York and New Jersey. If the same hands were behind the New York and New Jersey operations, this would show that Islamic terror has enhanced its capabilities in the United States and able to scatter a variety of explosive devices in several places at once. Last month, we disclosed the startling arrival in Syria of Al Qaeda's most dangerous terrorist master, Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian whose real name is Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan. If this top terror pro has gone to work for the Islamic State, the latest round of attacks would mark the start of a cooperative Al Qaeda-ISIS project for sowing terror in the United States.
DEBKAfile Special Report
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was apprehended Monday, Sept. 19, after a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, just hours after local and federal authorities launched a massive manhunt to capture him on suspicion of planting bombs in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the Chelsea bombing, in which 29 people were injured, and two bombing incidents in New Jersey. Rahami, a naturalized American citizen born in Afghanistan and resident of New Jersey, was described as "armed and dangerous." The information coming in on the series of terrorist incidents over the weekend points strongly to the presence of a large-scale terrorist network, almost certainly linked to Al Qaeda, in New York and New Jersey. If the same hands were behind the New York and New Jersey operations, this would show that Islamic terror has enhanced its capabilities in the United States and able to scatter a variety of explosive devices in several places at once. Last month, we disclosed the startling arrival in Syria of Al Qaeda's most dangerous terrorist master, Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian whose real name is Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan. If this top terror pro has gone to work for the Islamic State, the latest round of attacks would mark the start of a cooperative Al Qaeda-ISIS project for sowing terror in the United States.