Bombing suspect had traveled to Middle East

The man suspected of planting bombs in Seaside Park and Manhattan traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and was reported to authorities as a possible terrorist by his own father, who later recanted.

News 12 Staff

Sep 21, 2016, 2:09 AM

Updated 2,786 days ago

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Bombing suspect had traveled to Middle East
The man suspected of planting bombs in Seaside Park and Manhattan traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and was reported to authorities as a possible terrorist by his own father, who later recanted.
Ahmad Rahami, who was born in Afghanistan but came to the U.S. and graduated from a New Jersey High School, traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2011. 
He married a Pakistani woman in July 2011 and returned to Pakistan for a year beginning in April 2013.
In 2014, Rahami's father, Muhammed Rahami, says he reported his son to authorities as a possible terrorist. The bombing suspect stabbed his own brother, according to their father.
"He stabbed my son, he hurt my wife -- I put him in jail two years ago," the elder Rahami says. But he later recanted his complaint.
When Rahami returned from Pakistan in 2013, he began communicating with U.S. Rep. Albio Sires' office in a bid to bring his wife to America. Sires says there were complications because the wife's Pakistani passport had expired, and when she went to get a new one, officials learned she was 35 weeks pregnant. Due to her advanced pregnancy, officials refused her an entry visa. She was told to come back after the baby was born and to obtain an additional immigrant visa for the child.
The Rahami family operates a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey and has been at odds with city officials.
The Rahamis are suing the police department there, and the city mayor is asking federal investigators for more information on how they tracked down the bombing suspect.


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