A pair of ISIS-trained extremists were charged with hurling an IED at Gracie Mansion duringa rowdy weekend protest — allegedly packing the homemade bomb with “Mother of Satan,” a volatile explosive favored by international terrorists.
The two pro-Muslim fanatics – Ibraham Kayumi, 19, and Emir Balat, 18 – both self-radicalized in recent years and traveled to Turkey and other terror-training hot spots, law enforcement sources close to the case told The Post.
The teen protesters charged with hurling an IED at Gracie Mansion. AFP via Getty Images
An explosive known as “Mother of Satan” was used in the bomb, law enforcement sources close to the case told The Post. AFP via Getty Images
Balat spent more than three months in Istanbul last year, while Ibrahim flew to Istanbul and Saudi Arabia in 2024, and made a trip to Melbourne, Australia in 2019, the sources said.
The pair admitted to cops after getting busted at the violent demonstration outside the mayor’s residence on Saturday afternoon that they also watched ISIS videos and tossed the bomb at right-wing agitators because they felt the agitators insulted their religion, the sources said.
The homemade device consisted of sports drink bottles filled with triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a substance favored by terrorists and known as “Mother of Satan” — which is so volatile that it typically doesn’t require a fuse to go off, they said.
The dangerous substance can be cobbled together using household ingredients readily available at home improvement stores and pharmacies, making it cheap to produce.
“It’s designed to maim and kill,” one source told The Post. “This is just luck no one is dead.”
The volatile device failed to explode during the Saturday clash; FBI and NYPD are now probing. REUTERS
The same type of bomb was used in high-profile terror attacks in France, the UK, Belgium and New Delhi over more than a decade — often with fatal consequences.
Fortunately, it failed to go off during the Saturday afternoon clash between demonstrators backing right-wing activist Jake Lang and pro-Muslim counter-protesters.
The incident unfolded during a planned anti-Muslim protest organized by right-wing agitator Jake Lang outside Gracie Mansion — which sparked a rowdy confrontation with counter protesters that quickly turned violent.
Video footage shows several scuffles that led to six arrests — including the two accused wannabe bombers.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the “Mother of Satan” bomb would have killed or maimed. REUTERS
The explosive device — a sports drink bottle filled with TATP and wrapped in construction tape — was hurled at Lang’s crew during one of the encounters, police and sources said.
Police secured the device and ended the threat.
On Sunday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch dismissed earlier reports that the device was not dangerous and said it would have killed or maimed anyone near it had it exploded.
The “pro-Muslim fanatics” admitted to watching ISIS videos, throwing the bomb after feeling their religion was insulted. LP Media
“The NYPD Bomb Squad has conducted a preliminary analysis of a device that was ignited at a protest yesterday and has determined that it is not a hoax device or smoke bomb, Tisch wrote on X.
“It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death,” she said.”I want to again thank the brave members of the NYPD, who ran towards danger without hesitation and quickly apprehended the suspects.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Zohran Mamdani denounced “white supremacist” Lang in another statement Sunday.
Mamdani said “hate has no place in New York City” — but failed to mention that the alleged bomb-hurlers were part of the pro-Muslim crowd of counter-protestors.
Search warrants are being executed at the Pennsylvania homes of Kayumi and Balat. Getty Images
“What followed was even more disturbing,” the mayor said. “Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”
The NYPD and the FBI are now working the case, with search warrants being executed at the Pennsylvania homes of Kayumi and Balat on Sunday, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the NYPD Bomb Squad was back at the scene on Sunday afternoon after a bottle wrapped in tape was spotted inside the Hyundai linked to one of the suspects.
The vehicle was cleared without further incident.
Both suspects are due to be turned over to the feds, with the bomb expected to undergo further testing at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, the sources said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona