Share

After weekend attacks, New Jersey police detonate suspicious package

After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable a device, but inadvertently set off an explosion, Mayor Bollwage said.

Advertisement

A coalition of bomb technicians from the FBI, Union County, and New Jersey was involved in the operation that preceded the explosion of one of the devices.

There was no immediate report of injuries or damage – but one eyewitness described the explosion as, “Thunderous”.

Two men discovered the backpack in the trash at around 8 p.m. on Sunday.

All New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains were suspended going through the Elizabeth, New Jersey station. About 2,400 passengers were on its trains on the Northeast Corridor when service was shut down late Sunday.

NEC and NJCL tickets and passes continue to be cross-honored by PATH, Ferry service, NJT and private carrier bus. The explosion was not a controlled blast, but happened unintentionally as the robot was cutting the device, according to Mayor Christian Bollwage. A forensic examination of the device will be sent to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, police said.

The explosion in Elizabeth, New Jersey, followed two others over the weekend – one of which left dozens of people injured in a busy Manhattan neighborhood.

The FBI is asking anyone with information to contact authorities at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The devices in Elizabeth apparently looked similar to what detonated in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on Saturday morning ahead of a race.

“This is someone who was likely involved in one way or another” with the Chelsea bombing, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN’s New Day.

Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police were also called to help investigate.

As many as five potential explosive devices tumbled out of the backpack when it was emptied, Bollwage said. “No Amtrak trains are operating on the Northeast Corridor between NY and Trenton, NJ for the time being.” . None of the five people had been charged, and the investigation was ongoing. When they saw wires and pipes, they dropped it and immediately went to police headquarters, he said.

Shortly after the blast a few blocks away, investigators found a pressure cooker with dark-colored wiring connected by silver duct tape to what appeared to be a cellphone, officials said. “One of the officials said that all or majority may have been from the same family and that they may have been on their way to the airport”, the New York Times reports.

A spokeswoman for New Jersey Transit, Ms Nancy Snyder, confirmed that rail service had been suspended because of the investigation but could not comment further, as the package had “not been found on our property”.

Advertisement

The discovery of the latest device comes as almost a thousand extra police are deployed on New York’s streets as world leaders arrive in the city for a United Nations summit on the refugee crisis.

Officials continue investigating NYC incidents, FBI states