New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch speak to the media regarding the attempted bombing at a right-wing protest in front of Gracie Mansion on Saturday in New York City. Getty Images via AFP-Yonhap

NEW YORK — Two men who brought explosives to a protest outside New York City's mayoral mansion said they were inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, a court complaint said.

Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi are awaiting arraignment Monday on charges of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.

Kayumi blurted out, as he was being arrested Saturday, that “ISIS” was the reason for his conduct, the complaint said. Balat, 18, later told authorities that he had pledged allegiance to the extremist group, and Kayumi, 19, asserted that he was affiliated with the Islamic State group, the complaint said.

Officers asked Balat whether he was aiming to accomplish something akin to the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013, when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and wounding hundreds more.

“No, even bigger,” Balat replied, according to the complaint.

The men's attorneys were expected at court. Attempts to reach the suspects' families were not immediately successful. The two men both have addresses in Pennsylvania, and Balat carried a Turkish government identification card along with his Pennsylvania driver’s license, according to the complaint.

An automated license plate reader captured the pair entering New York City from New Jersey less than an hour before the attack, according to the complaint.

Their vehicle — registered to one of Balat’s relatives — was discovered Sunday a few blocks from where they were arrested. A search of the car turned up a “hobby fuse” and a metal can, along with a written list of chemical ingredients and components that could be used to build explosives, the complaint said.

The homemade devices, which did not explode, were hurled Saturday during raucous counterprotests against an anti-Islamic demonstration led by Jake Lang, a far-right activist and critic of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and the first Muslim to hold the office. Mamdani and his wife weren't at the house, called Gracie Mansion, at the time.

Source: Korea Times News