Chemical used in explosives found in Texas storage locker linked to New Orleans attacker, authorities say

A chemical commonly used in explosives was discovered in a Texas storage locker, linked to the US army veteran who killed 14 people and injured more than two dozen when he crashed into partygoers New Year’s Eve in New Orleans, law enforcement announced Tuesday.

The sulfuric acid bottles were discovered in a cooler in a northwest Houston unit during an overnight search by the FBI and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, FBI field office officials said in Houston.

Sulfuric acid is widely used, commercially available, and can easily be combined with other chemicals to make explosives. The FBI did not provide additional details about why the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, planned to use sulfuric acid.

FBI officials previously said Jabbar, who lived in Houston and died in a firefight with authorities, left two improvised explosive devices in New Orleans that failed to detonate.

It is unclear why the bombs, which the FBI said were likely made of a common explosive known as RDX, did not detonate. Security video shows Jabbar placing the devices along Bourbon Street before the attack, authorities said.

Authorities also believe Jabbar set fire to the short-term rental home in New Orleans where he was staying in an attempt to destroy evidence. Bomb-making materials and what authorities suspect was a silencer were found in the home.

Law enforcement officials described the attack as a terrorist act “100 percent inspired by ISIS,” the Islamic State terrorist group, and carried out by Jabbar alone.

Jabbar, who traveled to New Orleans from Houston in a rental truck, recorded videos on Facebook along the way, professing his support for the group and claiming he had previously planned to hurt his family and friends. friends, but that he changed direction because he thought the media wouldn’t do it. focus on “the war between believers and unbelievers,” Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said at a press briefing last week.