Would-be suicide bomber in New York City faces court hearing

NEW YORK (AP) — In less than 24 hours, authorities say a would-be suicide bomber's botched attack on a Manhattan transportation hub underneath Times Square became an open-and-shut case after a search of his apartment and hearing the suspect's own words.

Akayed Ullah, who's expected to make his first court appearance on today, made it clear from a hospital bed where he was being treated for burns from a pipe bomb he strapped to his body that he was on a mission to punish the United States for attacking the Islamic State group, said Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim.

A search of the Bangladeshi immigrant's apartment turned up bomb-making materials, including screws matching those found at the scene intended as carnage-creating shrapnel.

"His motivation," the prosecutor said, "was not a mystery."

Kim said Ullah picked the morning rush on Monday to maximize casualties in his quest "to kill, to maim and to destroy."

Ullah, 27, with a hate-filled heart and an evil purpose," carried out the attack after researching how to build a bomb a year ago and planned his mission for several weeks, Kim said.

The bomb was assembled in the past week using fragments of a metal pipe, a battery and a Christmas tree light bulb, along with the metal screws, authorities said.

The defendant "had apparently hoped to die in his own misguided rage, taking as many innocent people as he could with him, but through incredible good fortune, his bomb did not seriously injure anyone other than himself," Kim said.

Ullah was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, but appeared to have no known links to local radical groups, Bangladeshi officials said Wednesday.