A man with a pipe bomb strapped to his body set off an explosion at one of New York’s busiest commuter hubs, leaving five people injured in an Isil-inspired attack.
Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national who is thought to have lived in the US since 2011, triggered a stampede during the morning rush hour as his homemade bomb detonated in a busy underpass.
He was pictured moments after the apparent attempted suicide attack crumpled in a heap with severe burns and lacerations to his torso and was later taken to hospital and placed under arrest.
CCTV footage showed the bomber walking down a tunnel armed with a five-inch metal pipe bomb and battery pack strapped to his body before a flash of smoke filled the walkway.
The bomb, described by authorities as a low-tech device, exploded inside a passageway leading to three train lines at and the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square, one of the nation’s busiest bus stations.
“There was a stampede up the stairs to get out,” said Diego Fernandez, one of the commuters at Port Authority. “Everybody was scared and running and shouting.”
Alicja Wlodkowski, a Pennsylvania resident in New York for the day, was sitting in a restaurant in the bus terminal building at the time.
“Suddenly, I saw a group of people, like six people, running. A woman fell.
No one even went to stop and help her because the panic was so scary.”
Sources close to the investigation said Ullah first arrived in the country from Bangladesh on an F-4 visa, available to those with family in the US, around seven years ago.
Several hours after the attack, President Donald Trump issued a statement saying the explosion showed the need for immigration reform, including ending what is known as “chain migration” within families.
Trump’s administration has called for a “merit-based” immigration system that would limit family-based green cards to spouses and minor children.
“America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” he said.
“Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security.”
He added: “Those convicted of engaging in acts of terror deserve the strongest penalty allowed by law, including the death penalty in appropriate cases.”
Bangladesh is not one of the countries covered in Mr Trump’s travel ban of six predominantly Muslim countries.
With Ullah striking at rush hour just two weeks before Christmas, it seemed that commuters and shoppers’ worst fears had been confirmed.
But as reports surfaced that the device had prematurely exploded in the right side of the bomber’s jacket, it was clear a far greater tragedy had been narrowly avoided.
The city’s response was typically pragmatic. “Let’s go back to work,” Governor Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers. “We’re not going to allow them to disrupt us.”
“When you hear about a bomb in the subway station, which is in many ways one of our worst nightmares, the reality turns out better than the initial expectation and fear,” he added.
Just hours later, the Port Authority station had reopened and New Yorkers were going about their daily routines.
The only serious injuries were to the attacker himself but four other people, including a police officer, suffered minor injuries.
The suspect, photographed lying face down, with tattered clothes and burns on his exposed torso, has been co-operating with police as he is treated at New York’s Bellevue Hospital.
Officials said Ullah was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group but learned how to make the bomb online and did not have any direct contact with the group.
“We have no evidence at this time that there were any secondary devices or it was part of a larger plan,” Cuomo said.
On Monday night officers were searching an address linked to to Ullah in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
He is thought to have made the bomb in the home he shared with his father, mother and brother in a residential area of Brooklyn with a large Bangladeshi community.
He had been licensed to drive a livery cab between 2012 and 2015, according to law enforcement officials and NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Investigators were searching Ullah’s apartment, interviewing witnesses and relatives, and looking for surveillance footage that may show his movements in the moments before the attack.
The terrorist attack occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.
In light of the attack cities across the US said they were ramping up the security around major transportation hubs.