Image source EPA
Thirty-one people were injured when a bomb went off in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on September 17.
Ahmad Khan Rahami was already charged by the state of New Jersey with the attempted murder of police, during his arrest.
The new federal charges include use of a weapon of mass destruction, bombing, destruction of property and use of a destructive device.
Unsealed in a Manhattan federal court, the charge sheet sheds new light on Ahmad Khan Rahami’s motivations.
The man’s journal apparently expressed the wish to die a martyr, the criminal complaint revealed.
One passage said: “You [USA Government] continue your [unintelligible] slaught[er]” against the mujahideen, or holy warriors, be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Sham (Syria), Palestine.”
Another refers in glowing terms to Osama Bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric killed in a 2011 drone strike, and Nidal Hasan, a former Army officer who killed 13 people at a Texas Army base in 2009.
According to investigators, Ahmad Khan Rahami, who is 28, planted two bombs in Chelsea but one failed to detonate.
Another bomb exploded in a New Jersey seaside town earlier on the same day but no-one was hurt.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is also accused of leaving explosives in a discarded rucksack in a rubbish bin in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
He was preparing for months for the attack, the court documents suggest.
Ahmad Khan Rahami bought some bomb-making equipment on eBay and was filmed by a relative lighting “incendiary material” in a bin.
The series of bombings over the weekend have sparked a heated debate about national security between the two presidential candidates, days before their first televised debate.
Donald Trump has seized on the fact Ahmad Khan Rahami was born in Afghanistan to bolster his tough stance on immigration admissions.
However, Hillary Clinton has accused Donald Trump of enabling the terrorists by playing into their hands.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is still in hospital, recovering from injuries sustained during the shootout that led to his arrest.
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