(Reuters) – A New York man will appear in federal court on Friday after his arrest the previous day on allegations that he discussed buying grenades and using them in an attack on Times Square, one of the busiest crossroads in the largest city in the Unites States.
The following is a list of recent attacks and thwarted plots targeting in Times Square:
SUBWAY PIPE BOMB, Dec. 11, 2017
A Bangladeshi man injured three when he detonated a homemade pipe bomb strapped to his body in the busy pedestrian tunnel that runs between the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square during rush hour. The bomber, Akayed Ullah, had previously expressed support for the Islamic State and was found guilty of support of a terrorist organization, alongside all five other counts brought against him.
MOTORIST KILLS PEDESTRIAN ON SIDEWALK, May 18, 2017
An 18-year-old Michigan woman was killed and 22 others injured when Richard Rojas of the New York City borough of the Bronx careened through three blocks in Times Square. There was no indication that the incident was an act of a coordinated attack, with the driver believed to have been under the influence of an intoxicating substance.
THWARTED HOMEMADE BOMB PLOT, June 7, 2015
New York City resident Munther Omar Saleh is serving an 18-year sentence for conspiring to aid Islamic State and for the assault of a police officer during his 2015 arrest. Authorities said Saleh spent hours online researching how to build a pressure-cooker bomb and had made plans to detonate bombs in Times Square and the World Trade Center.
FAILED CAR BOMBING, May 1, 2010
New York police thwarted an attempted car bomb in Times Square, defusing a crude device made out of firecrackers and propane gas tanks. A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, Faisal Shahzad, pled guilty, admitting that he had received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban and that this group, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had funded the plot. He was sentenced to life in prison.
UNCLAIMED IED, MARCH 6, 2008
An improvised explosive device detonated at the Armed Forces Recruiting Station, a small, stand-alone building in the heart of Times Square, in the early hours of March 6, 2008. No one was harmed in the incident that remains unsolved.
Reporting by Ayenat Mersie in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy