Alleged New York City bomber Akayed Ullah began his road to radicalization nearly only three years after arriving in Brooklyn under a family immigrant visa in 2011.
Ullah detonated a bomb strapped to his chest on a busy Subway platform during the Monday morning rush hour commute with the intent to kill as many as possible. He survived the blast and declared to investigators that he “did it for the Islamic State,” according a court filing against him in the U.S. district court of Manhattan.
2/ Ullah began consuming ISIS propaganda in 2014. That’s the year that ISIS burst onto the scene and declared its caliphate. Meaning, he’s been chewing on their violent ideas for 3 years. We have seen people moved to violence by this propaganda in a matter of months. 3 yrs = long pic.twitter.com/2Ao5KbHsD2
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 12, 2017
Ullah admitted to watching ISIS propaganda beginning in 2014 when the terror group swept across Iraq and Syria taking control of several major cities. He appears to have been an extremely angry individual who defaced his passport with slurs against the U.S. and posted on Facebook before the attack “Trump you failed to protect your nation.”
Unlike many terrorism suspects, Ullah did not have any previous run-ins with U.S. or Bangladeshi law enforcement. However photos of Ullah after the incident show the beard of a devout Muslim and reports indicate he worshipped frequently in a mosque. Ullah embedded himself deeply within the Bangladeshi community of New York City and took a young bride in Bangaldesh, who he visited frequently.
IMAGE: Port Authority, Manhattan suicide bomber AKAYED ULLAH on a stretcher surrounded by heavily armed New York police pic.twitter.com/segNaHKmzV
— Terror Today (@TerrorToday) December 11, 2017
His neighbors told The New York Post he was “always angry. He always seemed like he had something on his mind” noting that he and his family were known as strictly religious in their neighborhood. “They would always go to prayer. They had a big beard and everything,’’ a neighbor continued.
Ullah even had a young child recently and spoke on the phone with his wife just 30 minutes prior to the attack. His wife claims she knew nothing of his plans or radicalization. His brother was known to worship at a mosque once connected to the 1992 plot to bring down the World Trade Center.
Ullah told investigators he began researching bomb making techniques on the internet nearly a year ago. His internet search history and years of online consumption of ISIS propaganda raise questions as to why federal authorities did not detect him sooner.
Follow Saagar Enjeti on Twitter
Send tips to saagar@
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.