Mr Kaine, Mrs Clinton’s running mate, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the NY blast “raises the stakes on the need to be really, really smart in dealing with challenges like this, both with the law enforcement community but also to make sure we’re doing what we can to stop any lone wolf attacks in the United States”.
Advertisement
Law enforcement officials work at the scene of Saturday night’s explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, Sept. 18, 2016.
No worldwide militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the NY blast or a pipe bomb that went off earlier along the route of a Saturday road race in suburban New Jersey. Shortly thereafter, another device was found several blocks away.
No suspects were immediately identified in the NY and New Jersey attacks.
“A personal motivation? We do not know”, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Hours earlier, less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south 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. On Saturday, Republican Donald Trump said following the NY blast: “We better get very tough, folks”.
“This should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups”, said Clinton, whose lead in the polls has recently taken a dip, condemning what she called “apparent terrorist attacks”.
With so little known about the attack, officials said they would deploy an additional 1,000 state police and National Guard to sensitive areas such as transportation hubs. A man who claimed allegiance to the group fatally shot 50 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub in June, six months after a married couple massacred 14 in San Bernardino, California.
Those injured in Chelsea had been released from hospitals by today. Fortunately, that bomb did not detonate.
Some New Yorkers, though, said they felt uneasy waiting.
Officials are working to determine whether all three are connected.
The bombs used in the Boston Marathon bombing were built using instructions that the pair of brothers behind the attack found in al Qaeda’s “Inspire” online magazine.
In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents were investigating the stabbing as “a potential act of terrorism”, as local media identified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American.
Advertisement
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Amaq assertion.
