US bombing suspect's ex-girlfried seeks custody of their child

New York bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami's ex-girlfriend has asked a court to give her full custody of their nine-year-old daughter and issue a restraining order against him.

In a filing on Tuesday, Maria Mena cited Rahami's arrest as the basis for her petition, NBC News reported.

"Defendant has been charged with police attempted murder and currently under protective services after possible terrorist-related activities in New York," Mena wrote in the petition filed in a New Jersey court.

It's unclear how active 28-year-old Rahami had been in his daughter's life. Mena claimed in previous interviews that she hadn't seen him in two years, after seeing him become more anti-American.

"He seemed standoffish to American culture, but I never thought he would cross the line," she said. "I never thought he would do something like this."

"I think he was brainwashed," Daily Mail quoted Mena as saying.

He was also heavily critical of the military, once pointing out a military character as "the bad person" to his young daughter.

Court records show that as of last year, Rahami owed Mena more than $3,000 in child support.

The two reportedly met while they were both students at Edison High School in the mid-2000s. Rahami is now married to a woman who was not in the country when he allegedly planted bombs in New York and New Jersey.

Rahami's current wife, Asia Bibi Rahimi, was interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday and said she had no knowledge of her husband's alleged plot, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News.

She spent the summer in Pakistan and was planning on returning to the US this week, but the FBI had her stopped in the UAE in order to question her more quickly, the official said, and she will resume her travel home.

Rahami faces further charges for the the bombings in New York City and Seaside Park, New Jersey, on Saturday.

Twenty-nine people were injured in the New York City bombing while no one was injured in Seaside Park, where a military charity race was due to take place. Rahami is also considered a person of interest for the five pipe bombs found near the Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station on Sunday.

--IANS

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