NYC Bomb Suspect Told Trump He 'Failed' on Facebook

Per the five-count complaint filed against Akayed Ullah Tuesday
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2017 11:49 AM CST
NYC Bomb Suspect Updated Facebook With Trump Taunt
A Bangladeshi rickshaw puller pedals past a building, on right, where 27-year-old Bangladeshi man Akayed Ullah, used to live in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Bangladesh counterterrorism officers are questioning the wife and other relatives of Ullah.   (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Before detonating a pipe bomb near Times Square Monday morning, Akayed Ullah reportedly took the time to update his Facebook status—and his message was about President Trump. The detail comes via the five-count federal complaint filed against him Tuesday (NPR posts the complaint in full here), and USA Today has the relevant passage: "On the way to carrying out the December 11 attack, Ullah posted a statement on his Facebook account stating, 'Trump you failed to protect your nation.'" The complaint also unpacks his motive per comments the 27-year-old allegedly made to investigators. "I did it for the Islamic State," he said, according to the AP.

The complaint alleges Ullah specifically chose a workday to carry out the attack in order to "terrorize as many people as possible," and that he attacked "because of the United States Government's policies in, among other places, the Middle East." The complaint lays out a timeline that dates his radicalization to 2014, details pro-ISIS materials he viewed online, and notes he began to research bomb-making online within roughly the last 12 months. In Ullah's native Bangladesh, counterterrorism officers are interviewing Ullah's wife (who reportedly gave birth to the couple's son 6 months ago) and other family members, whom Ullah last visited in September. Among the charges Ullah faces: bombing a public place, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and providing support to ISIS. (More terror attack stories.)

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