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Chelsea Bomber Suffered Lasting Injuries in Police Shootout, Lawyer Says

By  Aidan Gardiner and Trevor Kapp | November 10, 2016 11:10am 

 Investigators wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, of New Jersey, in connection to the Chelsea bombing, they said Monday.
Investigators wanted to question Ahmad Khan Rahami, of New Jersey, in connection to the Chelsea bombing, they said Monday.
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FBI

MANHATTAN — Accused Chelsea bomber Ahman Rahami still suffers from wounds he sustained during the police shootout that led to his capture, his lawyer said, including permanent liver damage.

The 28-year-old terror suspect was brought from New Jersey to Manhattan Thursday to face terrorism charges, nearly two months after his pressure cooker bomb injured more than 30 people on West 23rd Street, officials said.

The explosive was one of several he placed in both New York and New Jersey in a terror spree between Sept. 17 and Sept. 19, officials said.

Rahami limped into the courtroom in beige prison jumpsuit about 9:30 a.m. for a hearing on his extradition from New Jersey.

The suspect was in a coma for several weeks after the police shootout and has been fighting a series of infections from an open wound on his leg, his lawyer David Patton said. Rahami currently can't fully close his left hand. He's had 8 to 10 surgeries for his injuries and has been held in the prison wing of a federal detention center in Trenton, the lawyer said.

His lawyer expressed concerns over the quality of the medical care at the Manhattan Correction Center on Park Row, where he will be held pending his trial.

"For his alleged acts of terror, Rahami will now face justice in a federal courthouse just blocks south of where he allegedly planted his bombs," said United States Attorney Preet Bharara.

Patton said that he expects his client to enter a plea of not guilty in the up coming hearings. He's due back in court on Nov. 15 and again on Nov. 23.

No one was killed by the West 23rd Street homemade explosive or another pressure cooker device on West 27th Street, because two Egyptian tourists may have disabled it when they handled it while taking the suitcase Rahami had planted it in.

One of his bombs detonated in Seaside Park, New Jersey, but no one was hurt.

Two men also spotted his bombs in a trash can in a New Jersey train station and alerted authorities. No one was hurt then either.

Rahami was arrested after a shootout with police in Linden, N.J., on Sept. 19.

He was arraigned on some charges in New Jersey, but Thursday marks the first time he'll face charges for the Chelsea bombs.