“To understand if there were any specific motivations, political motivations, any connection to an organization – that’s what we don’t know”, he said. Police recovered the device and planned a controlled detonation as part of their continued investigation. Trace elements found at the scene are consistent with a pressure cooker.
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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called it a bombing, but said the motivation remains unknown. “We do not know that yet”.
“We’ve got to get very tough”, Trump said.
NY police, the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives converged on the site for their first daylight view of the site of the explosion, cordoning it off and placing dozens of evidence markers on the ground. At the time, information about the explosion was extremely scarce, and Trump’s critics said that there’s no way he could have known it was a bomb.
The Mayor described the explosion as an “intentional act” but said there is no evidence at this point of a terror link.
PHOTOS: Explosion in ChelseaTwenty-nine people were injured in the blast that occurred on West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday night – all but one of the injuries was minor.
Meanwhile, all 29 people hurt in the blast are out of the hospital.
Investigators Sunday combed the area of the blast for evidence and examined video footage as 1,000 additional New York State Police troopers and National Guard troops have been dispatched to bus terminals, airports and subway stations to beef up security.
The Latest on an explosion in Manhattan.
The bombing also followed the explosion of a pipe bomb in a garbage bin earlier on Saturday in the neighbouring state of New Jersey, which was located on the route of a charity run scheduled for that day.
The law enforcement official also said that the explosion that rocked a bustling Chelsea neighborhood appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. The device was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation facility in Quantico, Virginia, to be analyzed. He was more straight-forward in calling the bombing an act of terror.
He noted that the device in Manhattan appeared to be different than a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey and said he didn’t believe the two were connected. “In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera”.
Another witness, Denise Coles, said the bomb went off as she was pulling into a parking place. He said the second device appeared “similar in design” to the first, but did not provide details. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation, said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street. Tannerite is a binary explosive that can be bought in kits and available for private use with little regulation.
A second device – reportedly a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a mobile phone – had been found four blocks from the site of the explosion in the Chelsea district and was removed safely. “So we’re not taking options off the table”, Mr de Blasio told reporters.
“We’re not going to let them win”, Mr Cuomo said at the scene. That’s what they want to do.
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The mayor said New Yorkers will see a noticeably beefed up police presence all around the city – and especially in the public transportation system. “Let’s try to figure out as much as we can by having the experts, professionals, go through this try to determine what you have to in order to trace it back and then see who’s behind it”.
