ISIS propaganda has expressed an interest by the terror group to strike during the Christmas season in New York.
Following a would-be terrorist's failed plot to bomb the New York City subway, there are fears that the so-called war on Christmas has gotten very real
The terrorist who detonated the pipe bomb in an underground passageway leading to Times Square was offended by Christmas-themed posters, according to The New York Times.
From the tree at Rockefeller Center to department store windows, Christmas is everywhere in the city, including close to the passageway where the terror attack took place.
The attack followed the release of an image by ISIS that depicts Santa Claus standing alongside a box of dynamite.
The scene in the photo is New York's Times Square with the ominous message, "We meet at Christmas in New York ... Soon."
"ISIS hates America. They hate New York and They hate Christmas and everything it stands for," security expert Robert Strang told Inside Edition.
Cops say the bomber, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, even used Christmas tree lights to trigger his crude homemade device and told authorities built the bomb for ISIS.
Ullah faces a number of federal and state terrorism charges for his alleged attack. He is currently at Bellevue Hospital, where he is being treated for lacerations and burns to his hands and abdomen. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.
On the day before the attack, Ullah taunted President Trump on Facebook, saying he “failed to protect your nation,” according to reports.
Investigators also recovered his passport from his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment, which reportedly included the handwritten message: "O America, die in your rage."
Just over 24 hours later, the spot where Ullah's bomb went off in the Port Authority Bus Terminal looks as though nothing had happened there.
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