An Afghan-born American was charged Monday with attempted murder after being shot and captured in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey, thrusting security fears into the heart of the election, reports AFP.
Saturday's attacks, which wounded 29 people in Manhattan and cancelled a US Marine Corps race in New Jersey, came on the same day that a Somali-American with possible links to the Islamic State extremist group went on a stabbing rampage in Minnesota, wounding nine people.
President Barack Obama, in New York at the UN General Assembly with world leaders, called on Americans "not to succumb to fear" as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sparred over how best to combat terror attacks.
Obama stressed that investigators saw no connection between the East Coast bombings and the Minnesota stabbings, where police said the assailant made "some references to Allah" in carrying out the attack. Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was initially spotted by a police officer outside a bar in Linden, New Jersey around three hours after the FBI released his mugshot and described him as "armed and dangerous."
When the officer approached the suspect, he immediately whipped out a handgun and shot the officer in the torso, hitting his protective vest, said acting Union County prosecutor Grace Park.
In a subsequent police shootout, Rahami was shot multiple times outside an auto repair shop, several blocks west of the bar, she said. The handgun was recovered at the scene and Rahami was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery, officials said.