Akayed Ullah: What We Know About NYC Bombing Suspect

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The man who detonated a homemade pipe bomb inside a Midtown subway station Monday is a 27-year-old former cab driver from Bangladesh who was loyal to ISIS, according to officials and news reports.

Police say Akayed Ullah of Flatlands, Brooklyn, injured himself and three others with a crude explosive strapped to his chest in a pedestrian tunnel near the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Ullah came to the United States on an immigrant visa from Bangladesh with his parents and siblings in February 2011, law enforcement sources said. He went on to get his green card and is a legal permanent resident.

Ullah made statements to investigators saying he carried out the attack in the name of ISIS, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said. Law enforcement sources said Ullah became radicalized and sympathetic to ISIS while living in the U.S. but had no direct contact with the terrorist group, the Associated Press reported.

Ullah told investigators that his attempted suicide attack was an act of revenge on the U.S., the New York Post reported. "They’ve been bombing in my country and I wanted to do damage here," he reportedly told officers from his hospital bed.

In addition to his home on East 48th Street in Flatlands, authorities are investigating addresses associated with Ullah in Kensington and Old Mill Basin, law enforcement sources said.

Ullah may have worked as a livery car driver in New York City for three years. He had a for-hire vehicle license from March 2012 until March 2015, when it expired and was not renewed, a spokeswoman for the city Taxi and Limousine Commission said in an email. He never held a taxi license.

A search of online court records indicates Ullah has no prior criminal charges or convictons.

Also See: NYC Mayor: Pipe Bomb Blast Was 'An Attempted Terrorist Attack'

Colin Miner contributed reporting.

(Lead image: Akayed Ullah, the suspect in Monday morning's Midtown Manhattan bombing, is seen in this 2012 Taxi and Limousine Commission photo. He had a license to drive a black car from 2012 to 2015. Photo from NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission)