A US jury convicted a Brooklyn immigrant from Bangladesh of terrorism on Tuesday after he detonated a bomb in a crowded New York subway passage near Times Square in the name of the Islamic State group.
28 year old Akayed Ullah who migrated to the United States in 2011, was found guilty by a jury as Americans went to the polls in the midterm elections. His trial in Manhattan lasted a week.
The December 11, 2017 blast wounded Ullah and three other people in a tunnel below the Port Authority bus terminal, not far from iconic Times Square.
The bomb, which he strapped to his body with zip wires, failed to detonate as he had planned, and Ullah was left with burns to his torso and hands. His victims suffered minor complaints such as ringing in their ears and headaches.
The explosion sowed panic and disrupted the morning commute during the busy festive season, six weeks after another a truck driver, also reportedly inspired by the IS group had killed eight people on a bike path.
Ullah was convicted on all six counts and faces a maximum sentence of life behind bars when he is sentenced on April 5, 2019.
His convictions include supporting a foreign terrorist organization, using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place.
He was caught on CCTV walking through the subway terminal and detonating the bomb strapped to his body. After his arrest, he allegedly told authorities: “I did it for the Islamic State.”
Times Live
