Authorities believe the three bombing incidents this weekend in Seaside Park, New Jersey, New York City, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, are related, as officials released photos of a “person of interest.”

An alert sent shortly before 8 a.m. today says police are seeking a man in connection with the Saturday night bombing in New York City, identified by authorities as 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami.

Rahami is believed to be the man seen in surveillance video at both the scene of the explosion and the scene on West 27th St. where the unexploded device was found, a police source said.

New Jersey State Police also said this morning that they are looking to question Rahami in connection with the Saturday morning explosion in Seaside Park, New Jersey.

Rahami is a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent. He is considered armed and dangerous.

His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The address of a home being searched by FBI agents in Elizabeth this morning is linked to a person with a similar name.

Rahami is believed to be driving a 2003 blue Honda Civic with New Jersey license plate number D63EYB.

While officials said the events had not been linked to international terrorism, the security threat put residents, police and security personnel on high alert as three explosions took place over the weekend but did not cause any fatalities.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, while speaking on “Good Morning America” today, praised the NYPD’s response to the threat, and said the department had “the largest anti-terror force of any police force in the country.”

The bomb devices — one exploding in an oceanfront town on the New Jersey shore, one in Manhattan and another in a town bordering Newark International Airport just beyond the city’s borders — initially left authorities struggling to respond to multiple possible terrorist incidents and searching for any link among them.

A device exploded early Monday after police recovered five possible homemade pipe bombs in a backpack taken from the trash in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The municipality directly borders one of the busiest airports in the country and sits just across a narrow body of water from the New York City border. The device detonated as a police robot attempted to disarm it. No one was injured.

The FBI’s Newark office tweeted that its bomb technicians had responded to the scene, along with investigators from Union County and the State Police of New Jersey. Amtrak shut down service on its Northeast corridor between New York and Trenton, New Jersey, because of the police activity.

Hours prior to the incident in Elizabeth, officials announced the detention of up to five individuals in connection with Saturday’s explosion in Manhattan that injured 29. The FBI’s New York field office confirmed a traffic stop had been conducted, but added that no charges had been made.

The individuals were taken to an FBI building in lower Manhattan to be questioned, The Associated Press reported.

The Manhattan blast took place on West 23rd Street around 8:30 p.m. Saturday in an area frequented by shoppers and diners. All of those injured have been released from hospitals, Mayor de Blasio said.

In the block-by-block search after Saturday’s explosion, two former state troopers found a possible secondary device a few blocks away on 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, said James O’Neill, the city’s police commissioner. The second device, a pressure cooker, was in a white plastic bag with tape, wiring and a cellphone or other electronic device.

Earlier on Saturday, an apparent improvised explosive device was set off in Seaside Park, New Jersey, along the route of a planned 5K charity race to benefit U.S. Marines and sailors. Because of delays to the start of the run, the explosion occurred in an area without many people in it.

Authorities have not said publicly that they have determined any link between the incidents, or a possible motive.

New Jersey Transit officials warned that the police activity and heightened security concerns could create transportation disruptions on Monday, advising customers to “plan for delays.”

As the investigations continue, New York City, the nation’s largest city, gets ready to host heads of state from around the world at the annual United Nations General Assembly this week in Manhattan. President Obama is among the speakers.

(AP)