NEW YORK: A suspected terrorist detonated an explosive device strapped to his body inside a city subway passage during Monday morning rush hour, injuring himself and three others.

The suspect in the incident at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a block from Times Square, was identified by police as Akayed Ullah, from Bangladesh, who lived in Brooklyn. He had burns and lacerations while three other people, including a police officer, had minor injuries.

The weapon was based on a pipe bomb and was fixed to the suspect with zip ties and velcro, police said.

A senior city official said the suspect was wearing an explosive device and after the blast the police had to strip him to remove it. The subway stations were evacuated and the bus terminal was shut down.

Akayed Ullah was alone, the police said, and the device was reported to have gone off prematurely.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the explosion an “attempted terror attack” and said there were no additional known incidents. “Thank God the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals… our first responders were there so quickly to address the situation,” de Blasio said.

Bangladeshi national has been identified as the suspect

He called the situation “incredibly unsettling” for New Yorkers, six million of who rely on the subways every day. “As New Yorkers our lives revolve around the subways. When we hear of an attack in the subways it is incredibly unsettling,” de Blasio said.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said the explosion in a subway station was “in many ways, one of our worst nightmares”, but added that “the reality turns out better than the initial expectation”.

“We’re not going to allow them to disrupt us. That’s exactly what they want, and that is exactly what they’re not going to get,” he said.

The governor described the device as “amateur level”.

Law enforcement officials told reporters that the device either went off prematurely or only partially detonated. Former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said preliminary information indicated that the explosion was carried out in the name of the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

The incident, in the heart of the city, caused chaos for morning commuters. Emergency vehicles that stretched for blocks rushed to the scene, causing major evacuations in the massive transit hub.

The incident was captured on security video, the police said. Video posted on NYPost.com showed smoke and a man lying down in the tunnel that connects the Times Square subway station to the bus station. A photograph showed a man lying face down, with tattered clothes and burns on his exposed torso. 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.

The incident 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 the IS claimed responsibility.

In September last year, a man injured 31 people when he set off a homemade bomb in New York’s Chelsea district.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017