US Blast Suspect Held

US terror blast suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami in custody after a shootout with police.

17:18 20 September 2016

Afghan-born Ahmad Khan Rahami has been arrested following a shootout with police that began when he was found asleep in a doorway. The 28-year-old US terror suspect is undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound he sustained following the confrontation in New Jersey.

 

Mr Rahami was publicly identified as chief suspect by the police on Monday. No other suspect was being sought over the weekend’s blasts.

 

Although the police is yet to release information about the manhunt that led to the suspect’s arrest, senior law enforcement officials have told US media that a fingerprint collected from an unexploded device in New Jersey was key.

 

According to Linden Mayor Derek Armstead, the suspect was found sleeping in the doorway of Merdie’s Taven in Linden, New Jersey. The suspect then fired on police officers when they tried to wake him. Two police officers suffered injuries before the suspect was arrested.

 

Prosecutors confirmed that the suspect was later charged with five counts of attempted murder of police officers over the shootout.

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump immediately seized on the news as vindication of his hard line on immigration and vowed to defeat “radical Islamic terrorism.”