Two Pennsylvania teenagers accused of hurling explosive devices at a protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's official residence have been formally charged in what prosecutors call an ISIS-inspired plot. A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18, over the March 7 incident outside Gracie Mansion, where the two devices failed to detonate. One comprised an energy drink can filled with triacetone triperoxide (TATP), an explosive dubbed the "Mother of Satan," per the New York Times. The pair face eight federal counts each, including provision of material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Prosecutors say they aimed to kill up to 60 people in the name of ISIS, per the Times. Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force found a notebook with detailed plans for the attack and a rented storage unit in the Philadelphia suburbs containing bomb-making materials and TATP residue. Balat allegedly told authorities he wanted the attack to be "bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing." Dashcam audio recorded in the vehicle the men used to drive to New York captured Kayumi allegedly saying he wanted to "start terror" and "petrify these people."
The attack was reportedly aimed at the "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City" event organized by far-right figure Jake Lang, who beat officers with a baseball bat during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the Times reports. Balat allegedly expressed a wish for "his body to get split in half." After his arrest, Kayumi was asked by an onlooker why he did it and responded "ISIS," prosecutors say. Balat allegedly asked for paper before penning a threat to "infidels" similar to those seen in other ISIS-inspired attacks.
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