Two men were charged in court on Monday after being taken into custody over the weekend in connection with a homemade bomb that was thrown into a crowd of demonstrators in New York City.
It happened over the weekend outside of the New York mayor’s mansion, where Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, resides.
A group called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” was holding a demonstration outside the mansion when a counter-protester threw a bomb filled with shrapnel.
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The bomb failed to detonate, but spewed smoke and terror.
The second man is accused of supplying him with a device. The two men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, have not been officially linked to a terrorist group, but one of them reportedly told investigators that they sympathized with ISIS videos online.
Monday’s official court complaint confirms the two men say they were inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group.
Balat and Kayumi appeared in court on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.
The complaint says that Balat, 18, admitted to authorities that he had pledged allegiance to the terrorists, while Kayumi, 19, also asserted that he was affiliated with the Islamic group.
PHOTO: Police detain Emir Balat outside Gracie Mansion, March 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Julius Constantine Motal)
Kayumi reportedly blurted out as he was being arrested Saturday that “ISIS” was the reason for what he did. The explosive devices were hurled Saturday during raucous counterprotests against the demonstration against “Islamic takeover” led by activist Jake Lang.
“Balat and Kayumi sought to incite fear and mass suffering through this alleged attempted terror attack in the backyard of an elected city official,” James Barnacle, who runs the FBI’s New York office, said after the court session.
Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Monday, “Violence that is meant to chill free speech, violence that is meant to keep us from assembling peaceably, will be met with swift justice.”
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