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ISIS-inspired suspects who threw explosive devices near Gracie Mansion wanted to cause more damage than Boston Marathon, NYPD says

Molly Crane-Newman, Josephine Stratman, Rocco Parascandola and John Annese, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

NEW YORK — The Gracie Mansion counterprotesters accused of throwing IEDs were inspired by the Islamic State terror group and wanted to cause more carnage than the Boston Marathon bombing, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Ibraham Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, were radicalized and bent on destruction, with two of the three devices linked to them containing the hallmark explosive seen in bombings around the world, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Monday news conference at Gracie Mansion.

After his arrest, when law enforcement agents asked Balat if he had hoped to accomplish something akin to the Boston Marathon bombing, he replied, “No, even bigger. It was only three deaths.”

After being walked in handcuffs out of the 26th Precinct, the teens were hit with a slew of charges including use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted provision of material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“I can confirm this morning that this is being investigated as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” Tisch said.

According to federal prosecutors, Balat wrote on a piece of paper after his arrest a misspelled message that he “pledge allegience to the Islamic State.” Kayumi meanwhile allegedly told investigators he was affiliated with ISIS and watched the terror group’s propaganda on his phone.

As Kayumi was being placed inside an NYPD vehicle at the protest scene, a bystander yelled asking him why he did it. “ISIS,” Kayumi responded, according to the feds. The exchange was caught on an NYPD cop’s body-worn camera, according to court papers.

Inside the cop car, Balat spontaneously offered an explanation for his actions, the feds say. “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet,” he said, according to the criminal complaint. “We take action! We take action!”

“If I didn’t do it someone else will come and do it,” he allegedly added.

After he arrived at the precinct and waived his Miranda rights, Balat asked for a piece of paper and wrote, “All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds! I pledge my allegience to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu (sic) kuffar! Emir B.”

The complaint states “kuffar” refers to “non-believers” or “infidels,” and “Die in your rage” is an ISIS slogan based on a verse in the Quran.

The suspects were busted Saturday after allegedly hurling two improvised explosive devices during a contentious clash between right-wing agitator Jake Lang, who hates Muslims, and his supporters, and pro-Muslim counterprotesters.

The homemade explosives were packed with nails, bolts and triacetone triperoxide, or TATP. That substance, known informally as “Mother of Satan,” is easy to make and and been a hallmark of various suicide bomb attacks.

 

A third device found in the suspects’ car on East End Avenue on Sunday was not an explosive, Tisch said.

Kayumi told investigators he hadn’t felt comfortable holding the devices and wouldn’t feel comfortable if they were in the interrogation room with him, according to the feds.

Balat had a Pennsylvania driver’s license and the parked car, which had New Jersey plates, was registered to one of his relatives, according to the criminal complaint. A license plate reader showed the vehicle crossed the George Washington Bridge into New York less than an hour before the botched bombing, the feds said.

Kayumi’s mother filed a missing person report at some point Saturday, saying she last saw her son at their Pennsylvania home around 10:30 a.m., the complaint says.

Inside the car, investigators found a coiled green material that appeared to be another hobby fuse and an empty metal can similar to the one inside the thrown IED, according to the feds.

Authorities also found a notebook with handwritten notes including the words, “TATP explosive, a list of chemical ingredients including “hydrogen peroxide,” “sulfuric acid,” and “acetone,” and a separate list of components and quantities, like “aluminum can x6,” and “a box of bolts ect (sic) 2x,” the complaint says.

Tisch noted that the last time an IED was used in the city was in 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a botched pipe bomb in a subway tunnel underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Ullah is now serving life in prison.

“We were fortunate that the devices used this weekend did not cause the kind of harm that they were certainly capable of causing,” Tisch said.

“But luck is never a strategy. Devices like this have the potential to cause devastating harm, which is why the NYPD does counterterrorism investigations and treats every incident of its kind with the highest level of urgency — and it is why we remain vigiliant.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was at a museum in Brooklyn with his wife when the incident happened, said that while the city will not tolerate violence he will never waver in his support of any group, no matter the rhetoric, to protest.

“This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy entitled ‘Stop the Muslim Takeover of New York City,'” Mamdani said. “I’m the first Muslim mayor of New York City. Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home.”

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©2026 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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