After spate of attacks, Obama urges Americans ‘not to succumb to fear’

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama Monday called on Americans “not to succumb to fear” after bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey and a mass stabbing incident in Minnesota over the weekend.

“Even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive both in preventing senseless acts of violence, but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don’t succumb to that fear,” he said.

Obama stressed that investigators at this point saw “no connection” between the incidents on the East Coast and the Minnesota stabbing.

A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded earlier Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot.

The blast came a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away.

Hours after the Manhattan explosion a man stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.

The stabber was shot dead by an off-duty policeman.

Also Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn’t appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out.

The Afghan-born American suspect wanted in connection with the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey was taken into custody on Monday after being wounded in a shootout with police, an official said.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was shown stretchered into an ambulance, sporting a bloodied bandage on his right arm and moving his head from side to side with his eyes open, in Linden, New Jersey, according to ABC footage.