(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.
“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.
All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.
Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.
The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.
“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”
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