Blast in Times Square

New York : A 27-year-old Bangladeshi national has been taken into custody with serious injuries after a suspected pipe bomb he was carrying malfunctioned and exploded prematurely inside a Midtown Manhattan subway station Monday morning.  

Commuters said they felt a blast in the Subway tunnels underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal around 7:30am. The bus terminal is a major transit hub for people commuting to and from New Jersey by bus, and is located just a block from Times Square.  

Police have taken one man into custody, who was wearing a pipe bomb with wires and a battery back, a source told the New York Post.  He was injured when the bomb malfunctioned, but is alive and in stable condition, according to the FDNY. 

The FDNY says a total of four people were injured and that the injuries were non-life-threatening. The injured count includes the suspect. 

While the suspect has not been identified by name, the Post reports that he is 27-year-old Bangladeshi national who lives in Brooklyn and has been in the U.S. for seven years.  He was carrying an ID that listed his name as Akayed Ullah. 

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the suspect ‘supposedly was setting the device off in the name of ISIS’ and that it was ‘definitely a terrorist attack, definitely intended’. 

CNN reports that it appears the Subway was not the intended target of the pipe bomb, and that it may have went off prematurely. 

They also learned that the device was homemade and could have caused catastrophic damage if it went off as intended.  

The Port Authority is the largest in the country and the busiest in the world - serving about 225,000 commuters a day. 

Video from above the ‘Crossroads of the World’ showed lines of police and emergency vehicles, their lights flashing, lining the streets and no other vehicle traffic moving.

Everything around the Port Authority in the 42nd Street area was shut down - a surreal scene of still at what would ordinarily be a bustling rush hour.

New Jersey Transit buses headed to the Port Authority were diverting to other locations following the explosion.

NJ Transit says buses are taking passengers to Secaucus and Hoboken. From there, they can take trains or PATH into the city.

Trains, PATH, light rail and ferries are honoring bus tickets into New York. 

NYPD sources say the suspect is Bangladeshi and has been in the US for seven years.

His motivation has not been established yet but it comes on the heels of a Muslim day of rage in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, last week where thousands of Muslims protested over President Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 

The decision - which breaks with decades of tradition in international policy - has drawn widespread criticism from Muslims and Christians around the world.

Previous presidents have refrained from such direct involvement in the Middle East’s historic conflict but Trump proudly waded in. Moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a campaign promise which he now boasts about fulfilling. 

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Monday morning that the president had been briefed on the situation.