Teens charged in attempted IS-inspired bombing at NYC protest

MANHATTAN (CN) — Federal prosecutors on Monday charged two Pennsylvania men, one of whom was seen on camera tossing an explosive device at a New York City protest over the weekend, with supporting a terrorist organization after claiming that the attempted bombing was inspired by the Islamic State group.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, were arrested by the NYPD on Saturday after Balat was spotted throwing the device during an anti-Muslim protest hosted by pardoned January 6 rioter and white nationalist Jake Lang.

The protest was just steps away from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence at Gracie Mansion.

On Monday morning, prosecutors say they took Balat and Kayumi into federal custody. The pair was charged in a five-count criminal complaint with providing material support to the Islamic State group, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, and transporting explosives across state lines.

“Both defendants have admitted that they acted on Saturday because of ISIS,” NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Monday.

According to the complaint, Balat made several spontaneous utterances to the NYPD during his arrest, including “this isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet, we take action!”

Balat then waived his Miranda rights at the police station, according to prosecutors, where he requested a piece of paper and a pen to write: “All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds! I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State.”

Prosecutors say Balat later told officers that he hoped to accomplish an “even bigger” attack than the Boston Marathon bombing.

“It was only three deaths,” Balat said of the 2013 incident.

Kayumi, who prosecutors say handled some explosive devices recovered by law enforcement, also waived his Miranda rights at the police station and told officers that he watched Islamic State group videos on his phone.

Law enforcement officials have said that three devices were recovered from the area over the weekend, attributed to the two teenagers. Photographs show that they appeared to be jars filled with shrapnel and wrapped in duct tape, which Tisch said on Sunday were not intended to be hoax or smoke bombs.

“Upon careful analysis by NYPD bomb techs and FBI special agent bomb technicians, it was determined these items were improvised explosive devices, IEDs, designed to inflict serious injury and death to those in the vicinity of the intended blast zone,” James Barnacle, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said at a press conference on Monday.

Tisch has also said that the devices contained triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, which she called a dangerous and highly volatile homemade explosive used in similar attacks worldwide.

Balat and Kayumi appeared in court Monday, sporting white hazmat suits with shackles across their body, arms and feet. Their lawyers waived bail applications, meaning the teens will remain jailed at least until their next court appearance on April 8.

Throughout the brief conference, Balat softly mouthed words to himself as the magsitrate judge read off his charges.

Balat’s retained attorney Mehdi Essmidi said outside of court that his client had just turned 18, was close to graduating high school and was not previously friends with Kayumi, who is being represented by public defender Michael Arthus.

Their arrests were two of at least six that occurred at the intersection of two protests Saturday. Lang, a right wing provocateur, led a rally of roughly 20 supporters in anti-Muslim taunts and chants in front of Mamdani’s residence. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was not home at the time.

More than 100 counterprotesters showed up to confront Lang, resulting in several scuffles and arrests.

In a statement Sunday, Mamdani condemned both the attempted bombing and Lang’s protest, which he said was “rooted in bigotry and racism.”

“What followed was even more disturbing,” Mamdani said. “Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”

Lang’s antics have made him an infamous figure online. Earlier this year, he was spotted on camera throwing up a Hitler salute outside of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee headquarters in Washington. He’s facing a felony damage to property charge in Minnesota after he posted a video of himself kicking down an anti-ICE sculpture.

And he sparked outrage elsewhere in Manhattan last week when he drove a U-haul truck to a vigil for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shouted Islamophobic comments and humped a live goat.

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