A New York tale: Two men find bag, remove
bomb, take bag
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[September 20, 2016]
By Dan Whitcomb
(Reuters) - New York City police
investigating a bombing in Manhattan over the weekend said on Monday
they wanted to question two men who appeared to stumble over a second
device made from a pressure cooker that had been left inside a bag lying
on a city street.
In a lucky break that helped authorities to thwart a second detonation
on Saturday, the men walked away with the bag after taking out what
turned out to be a homemade bomb and leaving it exposed on the pavement
on 27th Street.
Police discovered the device soon after a bomb exploded four blocks away
on 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood and left 29 people injured.
The two men, caught on surveillance video footage, are considered
potential witnesses, not suspects, in the bombing, said Robert Boyce,
chief of detectives for the New York City Police Department.
"They looked like they were two gentlemen just strolling up and down
Seventh Avenue at the time. We have no information that would link them
to this at all," Boyce said at a briefing. "However, we still want to
talk to them, obviously."
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Boyce said the two men were seen picking up the bag containing the
device, removing it and then leaving with the bag, for reasons that
remains unclear. Police provided no specific description of the men who
they said took the bag.
"Once they picked up the bag, they seemed incredulous they had actually
picked this up off the street and they walked off with it," Boyce said.
"So we'll find out, we'll put their images out. Hopefully we can get
them identified."
Earlier on Monday an Afghanistan-born American suspected of detonating
the bomb in Chelsea and of planting other devices in New York and New
Jersey was arrested following a gun battle with police.
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![](../images/092016pics/news_c5.jpg)
A New York Police Department (NYPD) robot retrieves an unexploded
pressure cooker bomb on 27th Street, hours after an explosion nearby
in New York City, New York, U.S. September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Lucien
Harriot
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Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from
Elizabeth, New Jersey, was taken into custody hours after authorities
identified him as the prime suspect in the Saturday night blast.
Police suspect Rahami was also behind a bomb that exploded in a New
Jersey beach town on Saturday, as well as leaving the device found
on the sidewalk after the New York blast. On Sunday, five more
devices were found in Elizabeth, the suspect's hometown.Police in
Linden, New Jersey, which neighbors Elizabeth about 20 miles (32 km)
west of New York, captured Rahami after responding to a complaint by
a bar owner of a man sleeping in the closed establishment's hallway.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Frank McGurty and Mary
Milliken)[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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