Suspected Chelsea bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami may have learned how to make explosives thanks to instructions in al-Qaeda's premiere magazine.
BuzzFeed got a look at a packet put together by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Bombing Prevention which contains a spreadsheet comparing the four attempted bombing incidents he has been accused of perpetrating with several issues of al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine. While each one of the explosives—two planted in Chelsea, plus one each in Seaside Heights and Elizabeth, NJ— were constructed differently, all seemed to follow bomb-making tips given in the magazine.
BuzzFeed writes: "Two of the attempted bombings involved pipe bombs and two were pressure cookers. Some used modified Christmas tree lights and cell phones, while one of the pressure cooker bombs used a binary explosive — or two different chemicals that, alone, are not dangerous, but will ignite when combined."
Rahami apparently praised Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda and ISIS in a journal that was found after his arrest. The Guardian also reported this weekend that Rahami spent three weeks at a religious seminary tied to the Afghan Taliban during a 2011 trip to Pakistan. After that trip, friends noticed a marked change in Rahami's personality and increase in religious devotion.
Rahami has been charged with bombing a public place and using weapons of mass destruction. As of this weekend, he has not yet seen a lawyer, and a public defender in New Jersey says he was denied access to Rahami by a prosecutor.
Investigators are still looking into whether Rahami had any help with the bombings: "To me, it seems likely that other people knew, given how open he was about this and he exploded a bomb in his backyard," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, who said Rahami's family is being closely checked. "But [investigators] haven’t come to a conclusion." He added that he doesn’t think Rahami was encouraged by ISIS to carry out the attack: "Might he have been influenced by foreign terrorists? Yes. He might have been, but they have no evidence that he was urged to do this specific act at this specific time in any way," Schumer said.