NEW YORK – Three attacks carried out in the U.S. on a single day – a New York bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast – were under investigation on Sunday for potential terrorist links.
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The increased security, the governor said, was to “err on the side of caution. I want to assure all New Yorkers that the NYPD and all other agencies are at full alert”.
The explosion, on West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood was reported at around 8:30 p.m. Twenty-nine people were hospitalized with injuries, but they had all been released by Sunday afternoon, authorities said. Initially, an explosion in a garbage container near a Marine Corps charity run in New Jersey took place at around 9:30am local time. The other five were not brought to hospitals.
Less than three hours after the NY blast, an object that police described as a “possible secondary device” was found just a few blocks away from the original explosion on 27th Street while officers were combing the area.
Authorities have questioned several people after a auto stop in New York City as they worked to determine whether there was a connection between several explosive devices found in two states in two days.
Authorities are stepping up security throughout New York City in the wake of the explosion Saturday night in Chelsea. A law enforcement official described it as a pressure-cooker with wires and a mobile phone attached.
Pressure cooker bombs were used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260. Instructions for making a bomb out of a pressure cooker appeared in terrorist instruction manuals and magazines published online by Islamic State and Al Qaeda and have been widely circulated. He said the second device appeared “similar in design” to the first, but didn’t provide details.
In New York, detectives are collating video footage from the scene.
“There’s significant property damage”, he said.
In one video obtained by police, a man is seen crossing the street in the vicinity of where the explosive device appears to have been left. The Flatiron Building, a NY landmark, is about 500 metres away.
She added: ‘We have to let this investigation unfold’.
Reporters for two USA news outlets said a loud explosion was heard in the area early on Monday. But, he said, the possibility of a connection “will continue to be considered”. He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police would decide how to remove the device.
King also defended the idea of focusing scrutiny on Muslim communities, saying an “over-concern” for civil liberties should not get in the way of “solid law enforcement”. “You don’t look for the Ku Klux Klan in Harlem”, he added. New York’s emergency management department said New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains are being held at New York Penn Station. As I was leaving the park, I saw a smoke cloud hovering in that area.
But Bill de Blasio said Sunday that authorities don’t yet know who made it, who set it off or the motivation behind it.
On the same program, New Jersey Gov.
While officials said the events had not been linked to worldwide terrorism, the security threat put residents, police and security personnel on high alert as three explosions took place over the weekend but did not cause any fatalities.
No-one has been charged with any crime and the investigation is continuing. The race was cancelled and no one was injured.
“Almost anybody could have fabricated these bombs and used cellphones as timed detonators”, said the official. There was one big, big explosion. The force of the blast blew out windows and could be heard several blocks away.
“There’s glass everywhere, shrapnel everywhere”, he said.
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This article was originally published at 8:25 a.m.
