紐約爆炸嫌疑人父親曾發出預警

America’s difficulties in stopping lone-wolf terrorists before they strike was underscored yesterday as reports said that the father of the suspect in last weekend’s bombings in New York and New Jersey had once told police his son was a terrorist.

美國在阻止獨狼恐怖分子發動襲擊方面的難度昨日表露無遺，有報道稱，上週末紐約和新澤西爆炸案嫌疑人的父親曾告訴警方他的兒子是恐怖分子。

Federal investigators subsequently met the father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, in 2014, only to hear him recant his claim, the reports said. An official interviewed by the New York Times said it appeared at the time that the father had spoken in anger.

報道稱，聯邦調查人員隨後在2014年見了艾哈邁德汗•拉哈米(Ahmad Khan Rahami)的父親，但他的父親卻改了口。《紐約時報》(New York Times)採訪的一位官員表示，當時他的父親似乎是在一氣之下發出最初的聲稱的。

The younger Rahami, 28, a US citizen born in Afghanistan, was captured on Monday after he was shot in a gun battle with police in New Jersey. He was being held on state charges of attempted murder and illegal gun possession in the shootout while federal prosecutors prepared their case over the bombings.

現年28歲的拉哈米是一名在阿富汗出生的美國公民，在新澤西與警方交火受傷後，他於週一被捕。他被控在槍戰中蓄意謀殺和非法持有槍支，同時聯邦檢察官准備就爆炸案提出控罪。

Mr Rahami had a record of arrests involving violence and acquaintances who knew him as a car enthusiast said he changed in recent years after visiting Pakistan, where he also was believed to have been married.

拉哈米曾因暴力行爲屢次被捕，認識他的人認爲他是一名汽車愛好者，他們表示，近年在去過巴基斯坦後他變了，據信，他已在巴基斯坦結婚。

The new information about the contact between police and Mr Rahami’s father emerged as local officials were hailing the quick police work that led to his capture less than 48 hours after bombings that rattled the New York-New Jersey area and put the issue of terrorism back at the forefront of the US presidential campaign.

在有關警方與拉哈米父親接觸的最新消息曝出之際，地方官員稱讚警方動作迅速，在爆炸不到48小時後就抓捕了嫌疑人，爆炸震動了紐約和新澤西地區，並讓恐怖主義問題重新回到美國總統大選的前沿。

“If we had said when we first started out this would come to a conclusion this quickly, none of us would have believed it,” Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, said on CNN. “But I think it’s a statement of the time. We’ve gotten so sophisticated in law enforcement, especially in New York. We had a great co-ordinated approach.”

“如果我們一開始就說會如此迅速地破獲此案，我們誰都不會相信，”紐約州州長安德魯•庫默(Andrew Cuomo)在CNN表示，“但我認爲，這是時代的特徵。我們的執法已變得非常老練，特別是在紐約。我們有很棒的協調策略。”

Mr Rahami was suspected after a spree that began with an explosion in the New Jersey shore community of Seaside Park on Saturday morning. A second bomb exploded in the downtown Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea on Saturday night, injuring 29 people.

在發生一系列犯罪活動（始於上週六早晨新澤西海濱公園的爆炸案）後，拉哈米被確定爲嫌疑人。上週六晚，第二個炸彈在曼哈頓市中心的切爾西街區爆炸，29人受傷。