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Manhattan explosions “clearly terrorism”, according to governor

Cuomo, speaking near the scene of the Saturday night blast, told reporters a second device found blocks away from the first explosion appeared “similar in design” to the first, though investigators are still testing its remnants after it was removed by a bomb squad robot and blown up at a police facility in the Bronx.

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A bomb that wounded 29 people in Manhattan, and another that failed to detonate, were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off a powerful explosive compound, law enforcement officials said on Sunday.

United States authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, but elected officials quickly identified them as terrorist-related.

Police officers and firefighters respond to an explosion on Saturday at 23rd Street and 7th Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.

The FBI said that agents and investigators with the NYPD stopped a “vehicle of interest” Sunday night in Brooklyn in connection with the Chelsea bombing.

Residents said the explosion and manhunt triggered memories of 9/11, but Amy Marcs, who lives on nearby 19th Street, said, “New Yorkers are resilient people, we’re all ‘you gotta move forward.’ Because if you don’t keep going they win, you can’t allow that”.

NY is on high alert after an explosion rocked the Chelsea district of Manhattan injuring 29 people, one seriously. Whilst a source told the Associated Press that the NY device had used Tannerite, an explosive which is often used in target shooting to mark a shot with a cloud of smoke and small explosion.

“I was sitting in my apartment, and all of a sudden I heard a big boom, and I thought to myself wait a minute, it can’t be thundering and lightning at this hour, and then all of a sudden vehicle horns went off, and I thought oh my god this isn’t lightning, this is too loud – this is a bomb”, said Stanhope.

The New Jersey explosion came from a pipe bomb, officials said. No injuries were reported.

The FBI is evaluating a claim of responsibility for the New York City bombing on the social blogging service Tumblr.

A second bomb was uncovered by police four blocks away and defused safely, before being sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Virginia for forensic examination.

“In other words, we find no ISIS connection, etcetera”, said Cuomo in reference to IS, which is based in Iraq and Syria.

At a press conference Saturday night, the mayor cautioned that the investigation was still in the early stages and there was little that authorities could definitively say about the explosion.

In New Jersey, a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the sidelines of a Marine Corps run, causing no injuries but forcing the cancellation of the race.

In New York, De Blasio said a large police force this week will man subways, bus depots and other busy areas throughout the city.

A manhunt is continuing after a bomb attack injured 29 people in New York City. Officials said the explosive in that device appeared to be black powder. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured the site Sunday.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo survey the site of the blast.

Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday’s explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. It’s a very manual task, it’s done clip by clip in a computer with one person looking at it minute by minute.

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Mr de Blasio said there would be a “bigger than ever” police presence in NY in the coming week. The pressure cooker was attached to wiring and a cellphone and had been placed inside a plastic bag, the Associated Press reported.

Governor: No apparent link between NY blast, overseas terror