Bombing suspect charged with attempted murder

The man suspected of weekend bombings in New Jersey and New York was charged on Monday with five counts of attempted murder, according to new reports.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is facing the charges after a shootout with police in Linden, N.J., earlier in the day, The Washington Post said.

{mosads}Acting Union Prosecutor Grace H. Park said Rahami is also facing two second-counts related to possession of a handgun, the newspaper added.

Authorities apprehended Rahami, a U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, during a violent standoff earlier Monday.

One police officer was shot in the abdomen but was wearing a bulletproof vest, while another officer was shot in the hand.

Rahami “sustained shots” before being loaded apparently conscious into an ambulance for medical treatment.

Officials said late Monday he was taken to University Hospital in Newark for surgery but would not elaborate on his condition afterwards, The Washington Post said.

A state superior court judge has since set Rahami’s bail at $5.2 million after his possible involvement in the bombing incidents over weekend, it added.

A homemade bomb struck the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City late Saturday, injuring 29 people.

Hours after the blast, an unexploded bomb was found blocks away, raising the possibility of future violence.

A separate explosive detonated earlier Saturday on a charity race course in Seaside Park, N.J.

Law officers on Monday then found multiple bombs in a backpack near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J., the site of Rahami’s last known address.

The weekend’s terrorism scares have since inspired new sparring over national security in the presidential race.

Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Donald Trump of inspiring terrorism with his rhetoric.

“We know that a lot of rhetoric we’ve heard from Donald Trump has been seized on by terrorists, in particular ISIS, because they’re looking to make this into a war against Islam rather than a war against jihadists,” the Democratic presidential nominee said during a press conference, referencing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Trump responded by accusing Clinton of having harsher words for his supporters than radical Islamic extremists.

“She calls the patriotic Americans who support our campaign, many of whom are cops and soldiers, ‘deplorable’ and ‘irredeemable’ and she means it,” he said during a rally in Fort Myers, Fla.

“Has she ever talked that way about radical Islam? No. Or about those who oppose and murder women and gays overseas?”

Updated 7:44 p.m.