Jihad Bombing in NYC: FBI Uncovers Additional Explosives in Pennsylvania

The FBI searched a Pennsylvania storage unit linked to the ISIS-inspired attempted bombing outside Gracie Mansion. Muslim terrorists Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi (19) allegedly threw IEDs at a protest crowd and planned a mass-casualty attack; investigators reportedly found additional explosives in the unit, which were later detonated by the FBI bomb squad.

Authorities say the pair hoped to carry out a mass-casualty attack and pledged allegiance to ISIS after their arrest. The two Bucks County Muslims accused of trying to bomb the New York City mayor’s mansion on Saturday, March 7, 2026, pledged their allegiance to ISIS while in police custody, officials say.
Investigators reportedly found additional explosive devices in the storage unit that were later detonated by the FBI bomb squad.

“All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds,” Balat allegedly wrote after asking for a pen and paper at an NYPD stationhouse. “I pledge my allegience [sic] to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu [sic] kuffar.”

It’s good they are tracking the shrapnel bombers across various states but have they interrogated their imam, mosque terror connections? Many mosques are bases of hate and treason, and must be monitored and shuttered if jihad-related activity or preaching is found to be taking place in these fortresses.

FBI finds ‘explosive residue’ in storage unit related to ‘ISIS-inspired terrorism’ outside NYC mayor’s home

The FBI said it also conducted a controlled detonation of material found in the Pennsylvania storage unit because of safety concerns.

Explosives incident near NYC mayor’s home being investigated as a potential terrorist attack

By Matt Lavietes, Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst and Deanna Durante, NBC News, March 10, 2026

The FBI said Tuesday that it found “explosives” in a Pennsylvania storage unit believed to be connected to an “ISIS-inspired terrorism” incident near New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence over the weekend.

The FBI said on X that it found the explosives and that authorities “conducted a controlled detonation.” The explosives are “believed to be connected” to Saturday’s incident, in which improvised explosive devices were thrown outside Gracie Mansion during protests.

Two Pennsylvania teenagers — Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18 — face federal charges in connection with the incident.

A senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said several components and chemicals were removed from the Pennsylvania storage facility. The official added that local police detonated some of the components out of precaution late Monday.

New video of ‘ISIS-inspired’ suspect buying material to make homemade bomb
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NBC News has obtained surveillance video allegedly showing Balat buying a fireworks fuse at a store in Pennsylvania on March 2, five days before the incident.

Phantom Fireworks said the video, which it shared with NBC News, shows 18-year-old Balat drive to its Penndel store around 12:40 p.m. and walk in.

The company said the video shows Balat registering his identification with an employee — something the company requires all customers to do — and purchasing a single 20-foot roll of green safety fuse with cash.

Phantom Fireworks Executive Vice President Alan Zoldan said that after the attempted bombing outside the mayor’s residence, the company searched its records for both suspects’ names.

Balat was a match, which led the company to video of his roughly 10-minute store visit, Zoldan said.

Zoldan showed NBC News a copy of the subpoena he says federal prosecutors sent Phantom Fireworks.

The FBI declined to comment.

The criminal complaint against Balat and Kayumi, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that they made statements about the Islamic State terrorist group before and after their arrest.

Body camera video from the New York City officers who arrested Kayumi shows him responding “ISIS” to someone in the crowd asking why he had done it, according to the complaint.

Federal prosecutors said the pair hoped to inflict more carnage than the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others in 2013.

A person who answered a phone number associated with Balat’s father, Selahattin Balat, told NBC News that the Balat family would not comment on the case.

Kayumi and Balat were being held Tuesday pending an application for bail. They face several charges, including unlawfully possessing and using a “weapon of mass destruction,” transporting explosives and attempting to aid a “designated foreign terrorist organization,” according to the federal complaint.

At a court hearing Monday, attorneys for the teens requested protective custody for their clients at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“This is a publicly declared terror trial, this is the city of New York, he’s 18, and he’s exposed to the general population of what is called a hellhole, and we want to keep him protected,” Mehdi Essmidi, Balat’s attorney, told NBC News on Monday.