4 hurt as blast rocks New York City

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the device he wore exploded in an "attempted terrorist attack“ resulting in 4 minor injuries

Police secure Eighth Avenue outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal following an explosion near New York City’s Times Square on December 11, 2017. Police said a man with a pipe bomb strapped to him set off the crude device in an underground passageway under 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

A Bangladeshi man with a home-made bomb strapped to his body set off an explosion at a New York commuter hub during rush hour on Monday, wounding himself and three others in what New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called an attempted terrorist attack.

The suspect in the incident at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a block from Times Square, was identified as Akayed Ullah, the New York Police Department commissioner said. He had burns and lacerations while three other people, including a police officer, sustained minor injuries.

No criminal record

Ullah is from the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong and is a U.S. resident, said the country’s police chief. He had no criminal record there and last visited Bangladesh on September 8, the chief said.

Ullah had a black cab/limousine driver’s license from 2012 to 2015, after which it expired, the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission said.

The weapon was based on a pipe bomb and fixed to the suspect with zip ties and velcro, police said. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaking at a news conference near the site, described the device as “amateur-level”.

Mr. De Blasio told the same news conference that the incident, which happened at the start of the city's rush hour, was “an attempted terrorist attack”.

Google Maps image locates Port Authority Bus Terminal and 42nd Street near Times Square in New York City.

New York City was a target, said John Miller, deputy police commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.

The bus terminal was temporarily shut down and a large swath of mid-town Manhattan was closed to traffic. Subway train service returned to normal after earlier disruptions.

WABC reported the suspect was in his 20s and that he has been in the U.S. for seven years and has an address in New York’s Brooklyn borough. Police shut down the entire block and there was a heavy police presence outside the home.

The bus terminal is the busiest in the U.S., according to the Port Authority. On a typical weekday, about 2,20,000 passengers arrive or depart on more than 7,000 buses.