Man accused of September bomb attacks in New York indicted

The 28-year old (pictured above) was charged in an indictment filed in Manhattan federal court with eight counts, including using a weapon of mass destruction in an explosion in the city's Chelsea district, which shattered windows hundreds of yards away and propelled a 100-pound (24-kilogram) dumpster over 120 feet (36 meters.)

"Now indicted by a grand jury, Rahimi will face justice in a federal court for his alleged violent acts of terrorism," Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

The Afghan-born naturalized US citizen is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on Thursday afternoon where he is scheduled to enter a plea. One of his lawyers - Assistant Federal Defender Sabrina Shroff - said last week that he will plead not guilty to any federal indictment.

The indictment includes no new factual allegations, but the two counts accusing Rahimi of using a destructive device "during and in furtherance of a crime" are charges that carry potential mandatory life prison terms.

He also faces the potential for a mandatory life prison sentence in a case brought against him in Union County, New Jersey.

Prosecutors argue that the attacks on September 17 came hours after Rahimi planted a pipe bomb that went off as charity road race was taking place along the New Jersey shore. No-one was injured in the blast. 

Prosecutors also accuse Rahimi of planting another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that did not go off and leaving several devices at a train station in Elizabeth in New Jersey, the defendant's home town.

He has been held without bail since his arrest two days after the bombing following a gunfight with police, who later found him sleeping in the doorway of a bar in Linden, New Jersey.

jbh/bw (Reuters, AP)