A federal jury in New York City convicted Akayed Ullah, who said he was inspired by the Islamic State to set off a pipe bomb last year in one of the city’s busiest transit hubs, the Wall Street Journal reports. On Dec. 11, Ullah, 28, detonated a low-tech device inside the passageway that connects the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Manhattan’s crowded Times Square subway station. The explosion created chaos during the morning commute, alarming commuters and disrupting the city’s transit system. Four people, including Ullah, were injured.
The jury convicted Ullah of all criminal counts, including providing material support to a terrorist organization and use of a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan set sentencing for April 5. “Ullah’s sinister purpose was to harm and terrorize as many innocent people in his path as possible, by using deadly violence to make a political statement,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Ullah’s attorney said he had set off the bomb but only intended to kill himself. Prosecutors said Ullah constructed the bomb, which included Christmas tree lights, wires, screws and a nine-volt battery, at his apartment. Beginning in 2014, Bangladeshi immigrant Ullah viewed pro-Islamic State materials on the internet and began researching how to build a bomb about a year before the attack, prosecutors said. “I did it for the Islamic State,” Ullah told investigators.