Suspected NYC Bomber A Naturalized Citizen From Afghanistan

The FBI have identified a suspect they believe may be connected to the explosive devices found near Elizabeth train station in New Jersey, the explosion in Chelsea Saturday, which injured 29 people, and the bomb in Seaside, NJ.

On Monday, the FBI released a photo of 28-year-old naturalized citizen Ahmad Khan Rahami.

Authorities say that Rahami was originally from Afghanistan, having become a naturalized citizen after immigrating to the U.S. The FBI describes Rahami as about 5′ 6″ tall, around 200 pounds, and having brown hair, brown eyes and brown facial hair.

UPDATE: Police have captured Rahami after a shootout in Linden, New Jersey on Monday. Two officers involved in the arrest were hit by bullets fired by the suspect, one in the vest and another in the hand. Rahami was injured but taken alive.

Below is footage of a wounded Rahami being loaded into an ambulance:

CNN reports: “Investigators first identified Rahami Sunday afternoon, a senior law enforcement official told CNN Monday. They were able to identify him through a fingerprint, the official said. The cell phone on the pressure cooker device found at the 27th street location in Manhattan also provided some clues, the official added.” Rahami also appeared in surveillance video footage.

More reports have begun to surface involving Rahami, including his involvement in a 2011 lawsuit brought by his brother and his father against the Elizabeth mayor, City Council and 20 law enforcement officers for supposed racial and ethnic discrimination.

On Sunday, authorities indicated that they believe there might be an active terror cell operating in the New York City/New Jersey area. According to reports, authorities took five men into custody Sunday evening.

“At 8:45 p.m. Sunday the FBI and NYPD conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation into the bombing,” reports New York’s ABC 7. “Five people inside, possibly family members and from New Jersey, were taken to an FBI building for questioning.”

The suspects were detained en route from Staten Island to Brooklyn, in what authorities believe to have been an attempt to make it to the airport. Details about the suspects have not yet been released and no charges have been made.

The explosion near the Elizabeth train station, which occurred just before 1 a.m. Monday morning, followed two other bombings: a pipe bomb in Chelsea on Saturday that left 29 injured and another bomb in Seaside Park, New Jersey earlier that day near the start of a Marine Corps charity race. The device exploded in a garbage can at 9:35 a.m., just five minutes after the race was scheduled to begin. Fortunately, no one was injured in part because the race was late in getting started.