'Trump you failed to protect your nation', New York bomb suspect wrote ahead of failed attack

The New York bomb suspect wrote "Trump you failed to protect your nation" on Facebook before heading to a busy transit hub to set off a pipe bomb prosecutors claimed.  

Akayed Ullah, from Bangladesh, has been charged with terror offences which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if he is convicted.  

The 27-year-old was arrested after a man with a pipe bomb strapped to his body set off an explosion at one of New York's busiest commuter hubs, leaving five people injured in an Isil-inspired attack.

He has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, supporting an act of terrorism and making a terrorist threat, New York Police said.

US prosecutors also brought federal charges including using a weapon of mass destruction, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.  

Ullah told police interviewers after the blast that he "did it for the Islamic State," according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors.  

Ullah began the process of self-radicalisation in 2014 when he began viewing pro-Islamic State material online and carried out his attack because he was angry over US policies in the Middle East, prosecutors said.

On the morning of the attack, Ullah posted on his Facebook page, "Trump you failed to protect your nation."  

Ullah's passport, which was recovered from his home, had handwritten notes, including one that read, "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE."  

Investigators at the scene found a nine-volt battery inside Ullah's pants pocket, as well as fragments from a metal pipe and the remnants of what appeared to be a Christmas tree light bulb attached to wires.  

Officials claimed Ullah told investigators he built the bomb at his Brooklyn home one week before the attack, filling the pipe with metal screws to maximize damage. He chose a week day to target as many people as possible.  

Ullah began viewing Islamic State propaganda online as early as 2014, including a video instructing supporters to carry out attacks in their homelands if they were unable to travel overseas. He started to research how to build an explosive a year ago.  

Investigators in Bangladesh were questioning Ullah's wife and her family, according to US officials. The couple have a six-month-old baby boy.

Ullah was pictured moments after the apparent attempted suicide attack crumpled in a heap with severe burns and lacerations to his torso and was later taken to hospital and placed under arrest.

CCTV footage shows the bomber walking down a tunnel armed with a five-inch metal pipe bomb and battery pack strapped to his body before a flash of smoke fills the walkway.

The bomb, described by authorities as a low-tech device, exploded inside an underpass leading to three train lines and the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square, the nation's busiest bus station at around 7.30 am.

The only serious injuries were to the attacker himself but four other people, including a police officer, suffered minor injuries.

The suspect, photographed lying face down, with tattered clothes and burns on his exposed torso, has been co-operating with police as he is treated at New York's Bellevue Hospital.

Officials said Ullah was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group but learned how to make the bomb online and did not have any direct contact with the group.  

"We have no evidence at this time that there were any secondary devices or it was part of a larger plan," Mr Cuomo said.

Ullah is thought to have arrived in the US from Bangladesh in 2011 on an F-4 visa, available to those with family in the country.

On Monday night officers were searching an address linked to the suspect in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn. 

He is thought to have made the bomb secretly in the home he shared with his father, mother and brother in a residential area of Brooklyn with a large Bangladeshi community. 

Investigators were searching Ullah's apartment, interviewing witnesses and relatives, and looking for surveillance footage that may show his movements in the moments before the attack.