Correction: Manhattan Explosion-The Latest story

The Latest on explosive devices being found in New York and New Jersey (all times local):

8:25 p.m.

Ahmad Khan Rahami is facing charges in two states after investigators say he planted a series of bombs in New York and New Jersey, including one that injured 31 people when it blew up on a busy street.

A criminal complaint was unsealed Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, shortly after a virtually identical filing was unsealed in New York.

Rahami was captured Monday after being wounded in a gunfight with police in Linden, New Jersey.

He remains hospitalized. Rahami is already facing state charges in connection with the shootout.

Investigators say Rahami planted two bombs in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood Saturday night. One didn’t go off.

Another bomb exploded harmlessly in a New Jersey seaside town earlier the same day. Investigators say he left another set of explosives in a trash bin by a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

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7 p.m.

Federal officials say Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man charged with planting explosives in New York City and New Jersey, bought bomb ingredients on eBay and wrote “Death To Your OPPRESSION” in a journal.

A criminal complaint was unsealed Tuesday at a federal court in Manhattan charging Rahami with four counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction.

The complaint includes excerpts from a handwritten journal authorities say they he wrote.

It says the writer lauded Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric killed in a 2011 drone strike, and Nidal Hasan, the former U.S. Army major who went on a 2009 rampage at the Fort Hood military installation.

Prosecutors say the document ends: “The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death To Your OPPRESSION.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Rahami had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.

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6:50 p.m.

Federal prosecutors have charged Ahmad Khan Rahami with planting a series of bombs in New York and New Jersey, including one that injured 31 people when it blew up on a busy street.

The criminal complaint was unsealed Tuesday at a federal court in Manhattan.

Rahami was captured Monday after being wounded in a gunfight with police in Linden, New Jersey.

He remains hospitalized. Rahami is already facing state charges in connection with the shootout.

Investigators say Rahami planted two bombs in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood Saturday night. One didn’t go off.

Another bomb exploded harmlessly in a New Jersey seaside town earlier the same day.

The complaint also accuses him of leaving another set of explosives in a trash bin by a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

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4:50 p.m.

The man suspected of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey used to work as an unarmed guard at private security companies, including one that provided services to The Associated Press.

Ahmad Khan Rahami worked as a night guard for two months in 2011 at an AP administrative office in Cranbury, New Jersey. At the time, he was employed by Summit Security, a private contractor.

The AP’s chief of global security, Danny Spriggs, said Rahami often engaged colleagues in long political discussions, expressing sympathy for the Taliban and disdain for US military action in Afghanistan.

AP spokesman Paul Colford said the news co-operative told law enforcement officials about Rahami’s work in Cranbury. Family court records show Rahami also worked for a security firm in Parsippany, New Jersey, in 2008.

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4:45 p.m.

A New Jersey congressman briefed by the FBI says the man arrested in the New York-area bombing case needed several surgeries for gunshot wounds to his leg, forearm and shoulder and that it’s unclear when he’ll be out of a hospital.

Rep. Tom MacArthur said that he was briefed by the FBI’s head of national security, Michael Steinbach, on Tuesday.

Authorities say Ahmad Khan Rahami was wounded when police returned fire at him in Linden on Monday. He has been charged with five counts of attempted murder against police.

The Republican lawmaker also says Rahami is not co-operating with investigators.

MacArthur represents the district where a pipe bomb blew up before a military charity run Saturday in Seaside Park. MacArthur says it was a stroke of luck that no one was hurt. Another bomb went off in New York, injuring 29.

2:45 p.m.

Two U.S. officials say a notebook with extremist ramblings was found when the man suspected of placing bombs in New York City and New Jersey was taken into custody.

The Associated Press viewed a blood-stained page of the notebook. It contained a reference to Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric killed in a 2011 drone strike, and Nidal Hasan, the former U.S. Army major who went on a 2009 rampage at the Fort Hood military installation.

The page includes the phrase “Join us in our New front.”

The officials also said that Ahmad Khan Rahami had travelled to Pakistan in recent years. One said he arrived from Afghanistan with his family as a young child.

The officials were not authorized to publicly reveal details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

— Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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2:30 p.m.

A woman who had a child with the man suspected of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey has asked a court to give her full custody of their son.

The Edison, New Jersey, woman filed the petition Tuesday with a family court in Union County, New Jersey.

On the brief form, she indicated that she was requesting full custody because the “defendant has been charged with police attempted murder and is currently under protective services after possible terrorist related activity in NYC.”

She provided no other details on her relationship with Ahmad Khan Rahami, except to say she last spoke to him by phone in January.

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1:55 p.m.

Two New Jersey police officers wounded in a shootout with the man suspected of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey have been released from the hospital.

Linden police say Officer Angel Padilla went home Monday night, several hours after he was shot in the torso. Authorities have said a bulletproof vest saved Padilla from a more serious injury.

Another Linden officer, Pete Hammer, was released Tuesday. Authorities say his head was grazed by bullet or shrapnel as the officers exchanged gunfire with suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami.

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12:10 p.m.

A law enforcement official says the father of the man suspected in bombings in New York City and New Jersey expressed concerns in 2014 that his son was a terrorist.

The official says the FBI looked into the matter, but that Mohammad Rahami later retracted his comment and said he meant that his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, including gangs.

Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested for stabbing a person in the leg and possession of a firearm in 2014. But a grand jury declined to indict him, despite a warning from the arresting officer that Rahami was likely “a danger to himself or others.”

The official who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Mohammad Rahami told reporters outside his chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Tuesday morning that he called law enforcement twice. He didn’t elaborate.

— Eric Tucker in Washington and Josh Cornfield in Pennsylvania contributed to this report.

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10:30 a.m.

People are now coming and going as usual in the Manhattan neighbourhood rocked by a bomb — although jarring reminders of the weekend blast remain.

West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues is open to pedestrians and vehicles. But an art gallery, a design studio and a fitness centre still have shattered or missing windows.

Mayor Bill de Blasio scheduled meetings with neighbourhood residents on Tuesday.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Correction: Manhattan Explosion-The Latest story

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