27 September 2016, 16:11 GMT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The FBI has sought the public’s help in locating "unknown" persons who removed the suitcase. It contained a pressure-cooker bomb that authorities found a few blocks from the Manhattan street where another device exploded on September 17, injuring 31 people.
"US officials…have confirmed the identity of two men who took a suitcase they found on a city street, possibly without realizing a wired pressure cooker they removed from it,” NBC News reported.
Authorities had said they were seeking those individuals as possible witnesses to the bombing, not as suspects.
According to CBS News, the two men identified by the FBI "are now believed to be out of the country, and…efforts are being made to contact them."
On September 20, prosecutors filed terrorism and weapons charges against Ahmad Rahami in connection with the Manhattan blast and another in New Jersey. There were no injuries from the latter incident.
