September 17: On This Day in World History … briefly
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
2016: Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan
On September 17 to 19, 2016, three bombs exploded and several unexploded ones were found in the New York metropolitan area. The bombings left 31 people wounded, but no fatalities or life-threatening injuries were reported.
On the morning of September 17, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Later that day, a homemade pressure cooker bomb went off in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City. A second pressure cooker bomb was discovered four blocks away. Late on September 18, multiple bombs were discovered at the train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of these bombs detonated early next day.
Seaside Park bombing
In the early hours of September 17, 2016, in Ocean County, New Jersey, the Seaside Semper Five, a 5km run event, was expected to draw as many as 3 000 people, with many of them being veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The race was delayed after a suspicious backpack was noticed in the vicinity of the starting point.
At about 9.30am, shortly before the race was supposed to start, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on Ocean Avenue in Seaside Park. Three ‘rudimentary’ pipe bombs, all reportedly timed to go off during the race, were later found, with only one of the three having exploded. No one was hurt by this bombing, however.
The race was cancelled after the explosion, and the beach and boardwalk in Seaside Park were evacuated. Police officials and federal agents soon went door-to-door, asking residents about information regarding the bombs or any suspicious activity they may have seen, heard, or witnessed.
Manhattan bombing
In the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan in New York City, on the same day as the Seaside Park bombing, a pressure cooker bomb filled with shrapnel, in the form of small bearings or metal BBs, exploded in a crowded area on West 23rd Street, between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue at 8.31pm. The explosion occurred in front of 133 West 23rd Street in the vicinity of a construction site, at which materials were in place for exterior renovations of the Visions at Selis Manor facility, an apartment building for the blind, at 135 West 23rd Street. Other nearby buildings included the Townhouse Inn of Chelsea, many restaurants, and a Trader Joe’s at 21st Street and 6th Avenue. The Chelsea neighbourhood is residential, known for its nightlife, and is not close to any significant tourist sites or government buildings.
Witnesses said that the explosion ‘seemed to have started inside a sidewalk dumpster’ in the vicinity of Sixth Avenue, and photographs of a ‘twisted dumpster’ in the middle of West 23rd Street went viral on Twitter. A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity stated that the explosion ‘appeared to have come from a construction toolbox’ in front of a building, and photographs of the area reportedly showed a twisted, crumpled black metal box
On September 19, 2016, the sole suspect – Ahmad Khan Rahimi of Elizabeth – was captured, following a shootout with police in neighbouring Linden, New Jersey. Rahimi was not part of a terrorist group, but his actions were believed to have been influenced by the extremist Islamic ideology espoused by al-Qaeda. In 2017, Rahimi was convicted in US federal court of eight federal crimes arising from the attack. On February 13, 2018, Rahimi was sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
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