Two ISIS-inspired accused terrorists charged with hurling homemade bombs into a protest outside Gracie Mansion planned a separate attack driving a large vehicle into a crowd, new court files allege.
Baby-faced Emir Balat, 18, and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi allegedly scrawled out a chilling list of targets — including “festivals,” “”parades,” a “protest,” and “celebrations” — in a notebook seized by the FBI.
The notebook described finding the “ideal vehicle” for conducting an attack, which was to be “load bearing,” “large in size,” “reasonably fast,” and “heavy in weight,” and discussed steps for making napalm, an incendiary substance used inside bombs and flamethrowers, court papers allege.
Authorities recovered the notebook inside a car the two alleged homegrown ISIS supporters drove from their native Pennsylvania to the Upper East Side mayoral residence on March 7, the indictment says.
The duo were also caught on the car’s built-in dashcam camera discussing plans to kill at least 60 people in the attack— and a chilling backup plan to toss the explosives in a café if all else failed, court papers say.
“All I know is I want to start terror, bro,” Kayumi allegedly said in the recording, per the indictment unsealed Tuesday night in Manhattan federal court. “I want to petrify these people.”
After arriving at the scene, Balat ignited and chucked a homemade bomb toward an area where Jake Lang, a right-wing agitator and pardoned January 6 rioter, was leading an anti-Muslim protest, according to the feds.
A large group of counterprotesters was nearby as well, plus a large crowd of journalists covering the chaotic scene.
Balat then ran away from the protest and down the block, where Kayumi handed him a second bomb that Balat dropped on the ground near several NYPD officers, court papers say.
But the IED’s miraculously did not detonate, and eagle-eyed police officers on the scene tackled Balat and arrested the pair upon spotting the bombs.
ISIS members and sympathizers have used large vehicles in deadly attacks several times in the past, including in 2017, when convicted killer Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck into a crowd of people on a West Side Highway bike path, killing eight people and injuring many more.
Balat and Kayumi each face up to life in prison on various terrorism charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Their attorneys did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
