Police combing the scene around the explosion found a pressure cooker connected to a cell phone with wires attached, Reuters reported, citing U.S. network CNN.
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“Whoever placed these bombs, we will find and they will be brought to justice”, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters at the scene.
The mayor and the governor both promised that New Yorkers would not be cowed and that apart from the street closures, life would continue as normal.
All 29 people who were wounded have been treated and released from hospitals, officials said.
He said, after viewing the extensive damage, that it was “fortunate” no one had been killed.
De Blasio tried to calm any fears among nervous New Yorkers, saying the explosion had no terrorist connection and wasn’t related to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey that forced the cancellation of a charity run.
NY bomb is terror, no global link: governor was posted in World of TheNews worldwide – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 18, 2016 and was last updated on September 18, 2016. “Everyone just went quiet”. “That’s what we know”. By morning, authorities had reopened most streets nearby, but they still blocked off West 23rd Street, where the blast happened.
Photos and more information on the explosion were shared by people on the street or near the area.
A sweep of the neighborhood following the blast turned up another device four blocks away consisting of a pressure cooker with wires attached to it and connected to a cell phone.
“I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in NY and nobody knows what’s going on”, Trump said.
The explosion tore through a plastic garbage can in the borough of Seaside Park at about 9.30am, according to authorities. Investigators believe the device exploded in or around a dumpster.
“They are terrorism, though, there’s no doubt about that”, Mr Christie told CNN. “To understand if there were any specific motivations, political motivations, any connection to an organization – that’s what we don’t know”, he said.
“Pictures on my wall fell, the window curtain came flying as if there was a big gush of wind”, she told Reuters.
“We smelled something, like an intense sulfur smell, and saw smoke coming out of this building. We went downstairs to see what happened, and firemen immediately told us to go back”.
A tense calm was restored within minutes as police began closing off nearby blocks and moving onlookers away.
The latest blast came less than a week after police forces around the USA ere on heightened alert for the 15th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001, airline-hijacking attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said today that, “We know there was a bombing”, in the city last night, and that investigators are working to determine possible motives and the perpetrator in the incident. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.
A joint task force also took the lead in investigating the New Jersey incident.
The New Jersey device contained evidence of a black powder, while the device that exploded in Manhattan had residue from an explosive called Tannerite, said a federal law enforcement official.
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Surveillance video from West 23rd Street that shows the explosion indicates to investigators that an object containing the explosive device was intentionally left next to a construction trash container.
