A second device that did not explode was also found on 27th Street just five blocks away.
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Despite the timing of the attacks, authorities have yet to draw a connection between the series of explosions.
The pipe bomb exploded Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. No one was injured.
One of five devices found in a bag near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station exploded early Monday morning as a bomb squad robot was trying to disarm it, and just hours later heavily armed Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were seen in the city as authorities grow more concerned that there may be an active terror cell in the tri-state area.
There was law enforcement activity at an address on Elmora Avenue in Elizabeth at 6 a.m. Monday.
This story has been corrected to show that the bag was found at around 8:30 p.m., not 9:30 p.m. There was no immediate report of injuries or damage.
After the bag was discovered, all New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were held at New York Penn Station in midtown, hampering travel on the busy North East Corridor.
Amtrak was operating on a modified schedule. “Passengers should be prepared for the possibility of additional cancellations and delays throughout the day Monday”, Amtrak officials said.
NJ Transit bus and PATH are cross honoring rail tickets and passes.
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said it was one of five separate devices inside the bag, which was sitting inside a garbage can next to a trestle near the station. The FBI was working to disarm the other four devices.
A New Jersey mayor says one of five devices found in a backpack near a train station has exploded while a bomb squad robot was attempting to disarm it.
As authorities reassessed how to handle the other four devices, NJ Transit service on the lines remains closed.
Bollwage said two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of a package after finding it around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey, should be considered armed and unsafe, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in one of a series of TV appearances just minutes after the photo was released.
The Department of Homeland Security is actively monitoring and participating in the investigations in NY and New Jersey.
There has been a loud explosion in the area of the scene of a police investigation of a suspicious device found near at New Jersey train station.
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Hunt for Clues in “Intentional” Chelsea ExplosionGovernor Cuomo said that close to 1,000 additional New York State Police and National Guard troops will be dispatched to New York to guard transit stations and airports as a precuation following an explosion in Chelsea Saturday night. It wasn’t immediately known if the blast was part of a controlled explosion.
