This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7386
September 19, 2016
ISIS claims stabbing attack in Minnesota
Ben Ariel
The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group on Sunday claimed a stabbing attack which took place a day earlier at a Minnesota mall, CNN reported, citing the Amaq news agency which is associated with ISIS.
In the attack on Saturday, a man stabbed nine people before being shot dead by an off-duty police officer. TheAmaq news agency claimed the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic state".
CNN could not independently confirm this latest claim.
"We still don't have anything substantive that would suggest anything more than what we know already, which is this was a lone attacker," St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told the news network. "And right now, we're trying to get to the bottom of his motivations."
The FBI is calling the attack "a potential act of terrorism."
Police and witnesses said the man, wearing a private security company uniform, entered Crossroads Mall on Saturday night around 8:00 p.m. ET, made a reference to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he attacked.
St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said three people remain hospitalized, including one person who is in a life-threatening condition.
The stabbings occurred in multiple locations inside the mall, including the common area and in several stores. The mall has security teams on site but they are not armed, noted CNN.
While the attacker was not identified, authorities said he'd had three previous encounters with police, most of them being for minor traffic violations and none having resulted in an arrest.
The police chief said two search warrants were executed at an address in St. Cloud, and the suspect's vehicle has been impounded.
The mall stabbing was one of several incidents reported nationwide Saturday. In New York City, an explosion ripped through the Chelsea neighborhood, leaving 29 injured. A second suspicious device was found a few blocks away.
In New Jersey, an explosion went off in a garbage can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run. Thousands of people were about to participate in the 5K race in Seaside Park. No injuries were reported.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
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25 Injured In Explosion In Manhattan
Ben Ariel
At least 25 people were injured on Saturday night when a dumpster blew up in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
The injuries were not serious, according to the New York Fire Department.
The explosion, which occurred at 8:30 p.m. local time, blew out the lower windows of a 14-story residence for the blind, according to The New York Post.
The explosion, described by one neighbor as "deafening," happened outside the Associated Blind Housing facility at 135 W. 23rd Street. The facility provides housing, training and other services for the blind.
According to police radio transmissions, the people inside the facility have been initially told to remain inside as police began their investigation.
Two buildings to the east of the facility were being evacuated. No fires have been reported, but multiple emergency vehicles, including ambulances, rushed to the scene.
The NYPD's counter-terrorism bureau said it is responding to the incident, according to BNO News.
"We are responding to a report of an explosion at 23rd St. and 6t Avenue in Manhattan. We will update you with more when we have it," said J. Peter Donald, a spokesman for the New York Police Department.
The incident comes hours after an unknown device detonated in a garbage can near the New Jersey shore, before runners were set to take part in the third annual "Semper Five" run that benefits marines and sailors.
The 5 km race had initially been delayed due to an unattended backpack, officials told CBS NY, which reported that officials identified the device that exploded as a pipe bomb
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/217946
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Pipe bomb cancels Jersey runGil Ronen
An unknown device detonated in a garbage can near the New Jersey shore Saturday morning, before runners were set to take part in a third annual "Semper Five" run that benefits marines and sailors, according to a Fox News report.
The 5 km race had initially been delayed due to an unattended backpack, officials told CBS NY, which reported that officials identified the device that exploded as a pipe bomb.
The 39th annual "Festival of the Sea," otherwise known as the "Seafood Fest," was also cancelled Saturday after the explosion in Seaside Park, according to authorities.
The Ocean County Sheriff's Office confirmed the cancellation just after the event was supposed to start.
"We have various K9s throughout the area, bomb dogs that are making sure the area is safe and secure," a law enforcement official told WCBS 880.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating the explosion and another suspicious package, NBC NY reported
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/217927
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Explosion outside of New Jersey train stationDavid Rosenberg
Witnesses say an explosion was heard outside of a train station in New Jersey Monday morning, after a suspicious object was discovered in a nearby trash can.
Police say two men had called to notify them regarding a suspicious package that had been placed in a trash can just outside of the train station, saying that a pipe and wires were conspicuously sticking out of the bag.
FBI and local authorities had sealed off the area when an explosion was heard. It is unclear if the explosion was controlled, with conflicting reports from the City of Elizabeth.
A spokesperson for Mayor Christian Bollwage claimed the blast was controlled, but Mayor Bollwage later contradicted this claim, saying the explosive pack had detonated on its own.
He added that a major catastrophe had been averted, and that given the size of the explosive device, it could have "certainly killed or injured many."
The incident comes after a weekend of bombings in New York and New Jersey. On Saturday night, an explosive device wounded 29 in Manhattan. In New Jersey, a pipe bomb exploded, and a stash of additional bombs discovered.
While no arrests have been made, the FBI has detained five individuals for questioning in connection to the bombings.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/218004
Also see: " Bomb Suspect Rahami A Deadbeat,Hated America, Says His Daughter's Mother"
The man who police nabbed and shot Monday after a day-long dragnet in connection with a series of terror attacks in and around New York was a bad father who disliked America, hated gays and took long trips to his homeland of Afghanistan, according to the mother of his young daughter. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/19/bomb-suspect-rahami-deadbeat-hated-america-says-his-daughter-s-mother.html
New York bomber's father warned the FBI in 2014 The father of Ahmad Khan Rahami warned the police two years ago that he suspected his son might be involved in terrorism. Ben Ariel,The father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is suspected of carrying out the bombings in New York and New Jersey this past weekend, warned the police two years ago that he suspected his son might be involved in terrorism, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The warning of the father, Mohammad Rahami, prompted a review by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Mohammad Rahami, in a brief interview, said that at the time he told agents from the FBI about his concern, his son had just had a fight with another of his sons and stabbed the man, leading to a criminal investigation.
"Two years ago I go to the FBI because my son was doing really bad, O.K.?" he said, according to The New York Times. "But they check almost two months, they say, ‘He's O.K., he's clean, he's not a terrorist.' I say O.K."
He added, "Now they say he is a terrorist. I say O.K."
Federal agents did not interview Rahami, according to officials, and closed the investigation after several weeks.
"In August 2014, the FBI initiated an assessment of Ahmad Rahami based upon comments made by his father after a domestic dispute that were subsequently reported to authorities," the agency said in a statement quoted by The New York Times.
"The FBI conducted internal database reviews, interagency checks, and multiple interviews, none of which revealed ties to terrorism," it added.
Rahami was apprehended in Linden, New Jersey, after a firefight on Monday – two days after the bombs exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
He has been charged with five counts of attempted murder as well as two gun related offences.
When Rahami was captured during a shootout with the police, the authorities found a notebook, pierced with a bullet hole and covered in blood, expressing opinions sympathetic to jihadist causes, according to a law enforcement official who agreed to speak about the investigation only on the condition of anonymity.
In one section of the book, Rahami wrote of "killing the kuffar," or unbelievers, the official said, according to The New York Times. He reportedly also praised Anwar al-Awlaki, Al-Qaeda's leading propagandist, who died in a drone strike in Yemen, as well as the soldier in the Fort Hood shooting, one of the deadliest "lone wolf" attacks inspired by Al-Qaeda.
One key area of investigation is around the question of whether Rahami had help building the bombs or if anyone knew what he was doing and failed to report it. In all, he is linked to 10 explosive devices found in the region, including the two pressure-cooker bombs, one of which exploded in Chelsea on Saturday night, injuring 29 people.
No terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. While the Islamic State is usually quick to claim credit for attacks around the world, organizations linked to Al-Qaeda vary widely in when or if they claim credit.
The authorities are scrutinizing a number of trips Rahami made overseas, particularly several to Pakistan, according to The New York Times. In May 2011, he made a three-month trip to Quetta, according to law enforcement officials, citing Customs and Border Protection records. Then, in April 2013, he made another trip to Quetta and did not return until March 2014, according to information provided to federal customs authorities by the New York City police.
He reportedly underwent an additional interview at the airport with Customs and Border Protection officers on his returns from both of those trips, but customs officers did not flag any concerns in his travel records.
Rahami was born in Afghanistan but he became a naturalized United States citizen when he was still a minor.
The inquiry into Rahami took place in August 2014, when he got into a fight with his family, during which he stabbed his brother in the leg with a knife, according to court records.
The police arrived to investigate, and it was at this time that Rahami's father told them about his concerns about his son's possible involvement in terrorism. The information was passed to the Joint Terrorism Task Force led by the FBI in Newark. Officers opened what is known as an assessment, the most basic of FBI investigations, and interviewed the father, according to The New York Times.
An official, when asked about the inquiry, said the father made the comment out of anger at his son and later recanted it.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
"...The alleged New Jersey terrorist charged with trying to blow up Chelsea last weekend with homemade bombs spent weeks getting an "Islamic education" at a Pakistani seminary, according to a report.
Ahman [sic] Khan Rahami spent three weeks in Kuchlak, an area described as a longtime "hub" for the Taliban, in 2011, a security official inside the country told the Guardian.
Rahami, 28, attended lectures at the Kaan Kuwa Naqshbandi madrasa.
US authorities have been tight-lipped with details of Rahami's trips to Pakistan, acknowledging he was married during a visit to Quetta.
Security agencies inside Pakistan have tried to "hide all details" of his visits to Quetta, one anonymous official told the Guardian…."
http://nypost.com/2016/09/25/chelsea-bombing-suspect-spent- weeks-at-islamist-seminary-in- pakistan/
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7386