ELIZABETH, N.J. — Investigators on early morning Monday, and wee hours of sunday night - were hunting for a 28-year-old New Jersey man suspected of having a hand in series of blasts that terrorized New York and New Jersey over the last three days.
Ahmad Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was identified as a suspect after a fingerprint was found on one of the devices that failed to detonate, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News.
They also found more information that pointed to Rahami on cell phones that were wired to the unexploded bombs, the official said.
"He certainly seemed to do virtually nothing to cover his tracks," the official says.
The official also downplayed any talk of Rahimi being part of a "cell" and said at this point have no idea whether anyone else was involved.
Asked whether whether the bombings were ISIS-inspired or directed, the official said authorities have no idea: "We're a long way from that."
Still, the FBI warned that Rahami should be considered armed and dangerous. And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials could not rule out international terrorism.
"Today's information suggests it may be foreign related, but we'll see where it goes," Cuomo said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Latest developments:
- Law enforcement ID suspect as 28-year-old New Jersey man
- Device explodes near train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey
- Surveillance video appears to show the same man at both New York locations where devices were found
- Governor orders 1,000 state troopers and National Guard soldiers to New York City
Rahami is the man seen in surveillance footage taken Saturday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, the site of an explosion that injured 29 people, a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News.
The source said there is other physical evidence linking Rahimi to the devices that went off or were found in New York and New Jersey.
FBI actively searching for NYC bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami 4:04
The development came hours after a backpack that appeared to contain pipe bombs exploded as a police robot examined it near a New Jersey train station. That blast happened shortly before 1 a.m. ET Monday. It was the second in New Jersey since Saturday morning.
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters the bomb squad robot was "cutting into the device when it exploded" in his city. A spokesman for Bollwage had earlier described the blast as a controlled detonation.
Meanwhile, officials familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News that heavily armed FBI agents spotted at a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth around 6 a.m. were involved in the tri-state bombs probe.
Several law enforcement officials told NBC News that they are concerned that an active terrorism cell with multiple players could be at work in the New York-New Jersey area.
Earlier, authorities stopped a "vehicle of interest" in the New York blast at about 8:45 p.m. ET Sunday near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York, the FBI said. Five people were being questioned by the FBI early Monday, they said.
None of the five people had been charged, authorities told NBC News.
Multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that the suspicious device discovered Sunday night in Elizabeth looked similar in appearance to the one that exploded Saturday morning in Seaside Park, N.J.
The latest package was a backpack, and it was found by two men in a garbage can about 300 feet from the front door of a crowded pub in Elizabeth, Bollwage said.
When they saw wires and pipes, they dropped it and immediately went to police headquarters, he said.
"We do not believe those two are involved," the mayor said. "We believe they did the right thing."
There was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices this evening at the Elizabeth Train Station in NJ. #Elizabeth
Bollwage said he was "extremely concerned for the residents of the community" that "someone could just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it."
New Jersey Transit suspended services between Newark Airport and the Elizabeth station, and Amtrak suspended service along parts of the Northeast Corridor.
The explosion Saturday night in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Less than three hours later, a "possible secondary device" was found a few blocks away on 27th Street by officers were combing the area.
The blast sent a dumpster flying more than 150 feet down the sidewalk and shattered windows more than a block away, a senior law enforcement official said.
Investigators were analyzing possible similarities between the two devices found in Manhattan and the one that detonated in Seaside Park. All three devices apparently contained old-style mobile flip phones, according to officials familiar with the probe.
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Editor's Note: It seems the growing issue of radicalization is not just a challenge to inland home security but calls for renewal of many policies. The suspect, Ahmad Rahami - a naturalized US Citizen, is a wake up call towards the effect of war on the next generation. The ongoing Syrian refugee crisis must beget radical sentiments inside any person who can indulge in future, in any 'intentional act' of terrorism.
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New report by:
Kanwal Abidi
*White House Correspondent
*Executive Online Editor - 063 News
*Political & National Security Analyst
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