On September 17–19, 2016, three bombs exploded and several unexploded ones were found in the New York metropolitan area. The bombings left 31 people wounded, but no fatalities or life-threatening injuries were reported.

On the morning of September 17, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Later that day, a homemade pressure cooker bomb went off in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. A second pressure cooker bomb was discovered four blocks away. Late on September 18, multiple bombs were discovered at the train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. One of these bombs detonated early the next day.

On September 19, 2016, the sole suspect—Ahmad Khan Rahimi, of Elizabeth—was captured, following a shootout with police in neighboring Linden, New Jersey, which left three officers injured. Rahimi was not part of a terrorist group, but his actions were believed to have been influenced by the extremist Islamic ideology espoused by al-Qaeda. In 2017, Rahimi was convicted in U.S. federal court of eight federal crimes arising from the attack. On February 13, 2018, Rahimi was sentenced to a mandatory term of life without parole.