ISIS targeted NYC weeks before Port Authority Bus Terminal blast


A pipe bomb explosion near the Port Authority Bus Terminal comes amid ISIS calls to attack Times Square during the Christmas season.

Akayed Ullah, 27, reportedly was inspired by the terror cell. The bomb partially went off Monday as he walked through a subway passage near the bus terminal, authorities said.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told MSNBC on Monday morning that initial information showed Ullah “supposedly was setting the device off in the name of ISIS, so definitely a terrorist attack, definitely intended.”

Weeks ago, pro-Islamic State media published a chilling photo of a Santa Claus standing in Times Square next to a crate of dynamite.

"We meet at Christmas in New York...soon," reads a message across the photo.

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It's one of several locations ISIS supporters highlighted ahead of the holiday season, along with major European cities such as London and Paris.

Another image targeted Queen Elizabeth II, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks terror cell movements. The Vatican was also depicted.

Their push came nearly a year after the Dec. 19, 2016, attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, which killed 12 people.

Dozens more were injured when an ISIS-tied assailant rammed a stolen truck into the heavily populated market.

No terror group has taken credit for the New York incident, and police didn't immediately suggest any affiliations he might have beyond the fact that he made some sort of statement.

If his support of ISIS is confirmed, it'd be the second time in as many months someone has attacked the city in the name of the terror group.

On Halloween, Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people when he drove a rented truck down a Manhattan bike path.

Saipov - who reportedly bragged about the attack while in custody and requested an ISIS flag from his hospital bed - has pleaded not guilty.

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