New York subway blast in retaliation for United States airstrikes on Islamic State: Report

Akayed Ullah told investigators that he set off his bomb in retaliation for United States airstrike on Islamic State targets including in Syria, The New York Times reports yesterday quoting law enforcers.

Ullah told the investigators that he chose the location for the "Christmas-themed posters" in the heart of the New York City subway system, the American newspaper said. 

His choice of location is considered to be "a motive that recalled strikes in Europe," the report said.

"The method of attack -- self-detonation, or the attempt at least -- introduces something of a new element to a long history of the city as target, a place that has yet somehow avoided the bomb-wearing attackers that are the hallmark of terrorism in places like Israel and Nigeria," it said.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the Ullah investigation said investigators have found evidence that he watched Islamic State propaganda on the internet, Reuters reports.

In recent years, numerous people claiming to be inspired by Islamic State have carried out attacks across Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

The 27-year-old Bangladeshi man set off the homemade pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded New York City commuter hub during the morning rush hour on Monday, officials said, immediately calling it an attempted terrorist attack, reports Reuters.

He was taken to a hospital after suffering burns from the explosive device, which was attached to his body with Velcro and zip ties and did not fully ignite, officials said. Investigators told Reuters they believe the attack in midtown Manhattan was intended to be a suicide bombing.

The blast, which occurred around 7:00am (1200 GMT) in a busy underground passageway between the subway station underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Times Square subway station, sent commuters fleeing for the exits and police officers rushing to the scene, as officials scrambled to reroute trains and shut down streets.

Three people, including a police officer, suffered minor injuries.

The attack came just six weeks after police say an Uzbek man, Sayfullo Saipov, plowed a truck through a crowd of pedestrians along a bike path in lower Manhattan, killing eight in an act for which Islamic State later claimed responsibility. In September 2016, a man injured 31 people when he set off a homemade bomb in New York's Chelsea neighborhood.