The investigation into an explosion on Satuday in an upper class Manhattan neighborhood is “definitely leading” in the direction of “terrorism”, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
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After the September 11 attacks, surveillance cameras were added in lower Manhattan, inspired by the “Ring of Steel” in London’s financial district, developed in the 1990s, NBC News reports.
Investigators believe more people were involved in the NY and New Jersey bombing plots, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
A federal law enforcement official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said authorities had yet to identify the person involved, but a NY lawmaker posted on social media late Sunday that the FBI had taken “several individuals into custody” in Brooklyn who had a possible connection to the bombing.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized USA citizen from Afghanistan, was arrested after a shootout with police, CNN reported. He may be related to five people who were taken into custody for questioning by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with Saturday night’s bombing in Chelsea.
Around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, two men found a bag with wires and a pipe coming out inside a trash can near the station in Elizabeth and told police.
Earlier Saturday, a garbage can exploded near the starting line of a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
Authorities in New Jersey found a suspicious package on railway tracks at Elizabeth Sunday night, according to reports.
As part of the inquiry into Saturday’s bombing in Manhattan, the FBI pulled over a auto described by officials as “a vehicle of interest in the investigation” in Brooklyn on Sunday night.
“This was an explosive” containing as many as five devices, Bollwage said.
There was no immediate evidence as to what motivated the bombings and there was no indication that an extremist cell was operating in the area, William Sweeney, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told a news conference in NY. No one was injured.
Law enforcement sources also tell NY1 there is surveillance video identifying a person of interest in connection to a second device found four blocks North on 27th Street.
No-one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is continuing, Ms Langmesser said. After cordoning off the area, a bomb squad used a robot to cut a wire to try to disable the device, but inadvertently set off an explosion, he said.
Police have connected the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings and say the same man is being sought for questioning in both.
New Jersey Transit said service has been suspended between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth. A police officer went to investigate and recognized the man as Rahami, police and the mayor said.
One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his apartment when the blast went off nearby.
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As a precaution, Cuomo said he was deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout New York City, and police officials promised more officers on the streets ahead of a United Nations meeting today to address the refugee crisis in Syria.
