New York, March 10 – Two teenagers, who claimed affiliation with the Islamic State (ISIS), have been charged with using a “weapon of mass destruction” in their failed attempt to set off a deadly bomb in the city.
Federal prosecutors also accused them of assisting ISIS in their Saturday attack near the official residence of New York Mayor Zohair Mamdani, while two rival protests were taking place.
Attorney-General Pam Bondi said, “This was an alleged ISIS-inspired act of terrorism that could have killed American citizens."
The fuse on one of the homemade bombs, packed with metal objects and the deadly chemical TATP, was allegedly lit and thrown by Emir Balat, 18, but it failed to explode, averting a major disaster.
Another bomb was allegedly handed over to him by Ibrahim Nikk Khayumi, 19, but before he could set it off, police apprehended him.
New York Counterterrorism Deputy Police Commissioner Rebecca Weiner said, “They could have caused death and destruction” if the bombs had exploded.
On Sunday, police used a robot to retrieve yet another bomb that was in a car used by them and was parked nearby.
TATP, also known as the “Mother of Satan” due to its power and ease of making, was found in the Red Fort terrorist bombs last year.
Balat and Khayumi, who were arrested on Saturday during the attack, were produced in shackles in a federal court on Monday.
The complaint filed with the court stated that while in detention, Balat wrote a statement, “All praise is due to Allah, lord of all worlds! I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State. Die in your rage, you infidels! Emir B.”
Khayumi said he was affiliated with ISIS and “was partly inspired” by the organization to carry out the attack.
Balat also told investigators that he had wanted to carry out a larger attack than the one on the 2013 Boston Marathon that killed three people, according to the complaint.
He also told the arresting officers, “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the Prophet . . . We take action”.
On Saturday, a small right-wing group was staging a demonstration they called, “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City”, near the mayoral mansion, when a larger group, calling itself “Run Nazis Out of New York City”, turned up to oppose them.
During this confrontation, the two teenagers from Pennsylvania tried to stage the foiled bomb attack against the right-wing group, the complaint said.
Balat reportedly comes from a family that immigrated from Turkey, and Khayum's family is from Afghanistan.
“This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy,” Mamdani said of the anti-Islamisation protest.
But added, “While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen”.
While he named Jake Lang, who organised the anti-Islamisation protest which he dubbed white supremacist, he has avoided naming the accused teens or ISIS in his condemnations of Saturday’s incidents.