A bomb has exploded on a Manhattan subway platform leaving four people injured in a suspected-Isil-inspired attack.
The suspected bomber is Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national who is thought to have lived in the US for seven years.
Ullah, who lived in Brooklyn, was armed with a five-inch metal pipe bomb and battery pack as he walked through a midtown Manhattan transit hub, sources told the New York Post.
The device prematurely exploded which meant it only partially detonated in the right side of the suspect’s jacket.
Ullah, who is thought to have been seriously injured in the attack, told officials he made the explosive device at the electrical company where he works, according to the New York Post.
The blast happened on Monday morning in an underpass at the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square – the nation’s most crowded bus station.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) said an “explosion of unknown origin” had been reported at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue.
It is thought the bomb was intended to explode on a subway carriage, where it could have affected hundreds of people, but went off prematurely.
Ullah is in custody and four people have been injured in the attack, NYPD said. None of the injuries are life-threatening, the department said.
The explosion occurred ins0die the passageway to the A, C, and E trains at 8th Avenue and W 42nd Street at around 7:20 am.
The NYPD said three metro lines are being evacuated. Th attack, at rush hour, also occurred at a busy shopping period for the city.
The incident took place five blocks from Times Square near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the main station for interstate buses into Manhattan and New York City.
The NYPD said one person was arrested. ABC News said a possible pipe bomb was detonated.
WABC News cited police sources saying a “few people” had been injured.
The incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.