Suspected Car Bomb Found in NYC's Times Square

[old medic]

Suspected Car Bomb Found in NYC's Times Square
(CBS/AP)  Updated at 12:07 a.m. ET

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/01/national/main6451836.shtml?tag=stack

Police evacuated buildings and cleared streets of thousands of tourists around New York City's Times Square after finding an apparent car bomb in a parked SUV.

New York City police say a mounted police officer noticed smoke coming from the SUV at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that bomb investigators found propane tanks, powder and an apparent timing device inside the vehicle. The official wasn't authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Paul Bresson, head of the FBI's public affairs office at bureau headquarters in Washington, said agents are on the scene with the New York Police Department and that the matter is being taken seriously.

Earlier, a senior Obama administration official said a Nissan Pathfinder was found with a suspicious package. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak on the matter.

Times Square, known as the Crossroads of the World, is one of the busiest urban areas in the U.S. and is typically teeming with people.

Police evacuated several residential and commercial buildings and cleared several streets of thousands of tourists milling around on a warm Saturday night.

Two CBS producers reported their Broadway shows were cancelled because police evacuated the area.

A NYPD public information officer told CBS News the car was initially thought to be on fire. Firefighters later found that the car was smoking, not on fire, but the suspicious package was found in the car's back seat.

The car was first reported to police at 6:33 p.m. Eastern time, the officer said.

Officials told CBS News Station WCBS-TV in New York that there were no injuries at the scene. As a precaution, the bomb squad was brought to the scene and used a robot to inspect the package.

Vehicle and foot traffic was blocked off from Broadway to Seventh Avenue and between 44th and 46th streets.

In December, a van without license plates parked in Times Square led police to block off part of the area for about two hours. A police robot examined the vehicle.

Clothes, racks and scarves were found inside.

 

[Spanky]

Thankfully the bomber seems to have been an amateur. 

 

[OldSolduer]

My wife and daughter, and my sisters in law and two of my neices were there in NYC in Times Square. I mean they could have reached out and touched the vehicle in question close to the time of the botched detonation.  :rage:
For me personally, I have gone through several emotions in the last few minutes, as they did not tell me they were close until about 15 minutes ago. My daughter said that if it had gone off as intended, they would not be here today.
I fervently hope that they catch the perpetrator(s) and prosectute him (them) to the fullest extent of the law.
Thanks to Mike, Chad and Andrew and all our fallen. In my mind they protected my family from the other side. Call me crazy, but that's the way I feel. RIP troops.
Hold your loved ones close, and please, please make amends with those you have distanced, because you never know when it will happen.

 

[mariomike]

I read that it is the first car bomb in NYC since 1993 at the World Trade Centre:

"The city's deadliest car bombing occurred in 1920, when 38 people were killed and 400 wounded by an Italian anarchist who filled a horse-drawn carriage with explosives and parked it in the city's Financial District.
Times Square has been a target for terror as recently as March 2008, when a cyclist placed a makeshift explosive outside of the NYPD recruitment center then sped off. No one was injured during the 3:30 a.m. blast.
A scare shut down parts of Times Square - and delayed a New Year's Eve rehearsal - on Dec. 30, 2009, after a 1997 Dodge van with no license plates and a phony parking placard sat illegally parked for two days. It turned out that the van contained only clothes.":
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/05/02/2010-05-02_first_new_york_city_car_bomb_since_1993_at_world_trade_center_.html

 

[karl28]

              I am just really glad that no one was hurt .  I can't even imagine how bad it could of been .  Hopefully with the bomb not being detonated the police and other Federal agencies can find the people who tried to do this and bring them to justice .

 

[CougarKing]

And the Pakistani Taliban just claimed responsibility for the apparent car bomb attempt:

Associated Press link

CAIRO, Egypt – The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the failed car bomb attack in Times Square in New York City.

In 1 minute video allegedly released by the Pakistani Taliban, the group says the attack is revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. Images of the slain militants are shown as an unidentified voice recites the message. English subtitles are at the bottom of the screen.

The video was uncovered Sunday by the U.S.-based SITE intelligence Group, which monitors militant websites.

 

[OldSolduer]

Watching the NYPD Commisioner's Press Conference. No mention of Pakistani Taliban.

 

[1feral1]

This is kind of bizarre.......
----------------------------
www.news.com.au/breaking-news/new-yorks-times-square-bomb-may-be-south-park-revenge/story-e6frfku0-1225861388026

New York's Times Square bomb may be 'South Park' revenge


By SA Miller of the New York Post From: NewsCore May 03, 2010 7:25AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? AUTHORITIES are looking at whether yesterday's failed bombing in New York's Times Square may be revenge for a recent TV episode that mocked the Prophet Muhammad.

"This vehicle was close to a Viacom building which owns MTV and Comedy Central. And you have the whole issue with South Park, which Islamic terrorists were threatening to have retribution for," Republican Peter King, told CNN, although he stressed the theory was "one possibility out of a hundred".

Asked if this was a possibility at an afternoon news conference yesterday, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly said that although no link had been determined, nothing could be ruled out.

An American Islamic group issued a dire threat against South Park's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, for an episode last month that showed Muhammad dressed in a bear outfit - the joke being that he had to wear the suit because depictions of the holy figure are forbidden.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
The Pakistani Taliban today claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was retaliation for the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"We have no evidence to support this claim," Comissioner Kelly told reporters at the news conference.

Read more at the New York Post

Meanwhile, there was no evidence of a Taliban link and police were on their way to Pennsylvania to talk to a man who said he may have recorded a bombing suspect in a nearby alley, the city's police commissioner said.

The video apparently shows a white man in his 40s taking off his shirt in the alley and putting it in a bag, Commissioner Kelly said today.

Police found the SUV parked on one of the prime blocks for Broadway shows such as The Lion King after being alerted by two street vendors last night (local time). Thousands of tourists were cleared from the streets for 10 hours, and the bomb was dismantled. No one was injured.

The SUV contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 19-litre petrol containers and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, police said. Timers were connected to a 350 millilitre can filled with fireworks that were apparently intended to set the petrol cans on fire, then ignite the three barbecue-grill-sized propane tanks.

Commissioner Kelly said it was "the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem, create casualties".

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the explosive device "amateurish" but potentially deadly, noting: "We are very lucky".

Police also found eight bags of an unknown substance in a gun locker that was in the smoking SUV, Commissioner Kelly said.

The substance "looks and feels" like fertiliser, he said, but tests are pending.

A group that monitors militant websites had said the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility
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Many think its amatures, but whoever is responsible, amature methods although crude can be effective. Keeping the KISS principle even with home made bombs can pay off good dividends (to them), and still kill innocent people.

OWDU

 

[SeanNewman]

Tons of people under the cbc.ca story in the comments stating that it was a CIA deception (never meant to blow up) to draw attention away from the oil spill  :

 

[1feral1]

Tons of people under the cbc.ca story in the comments stating that it was a CIA deception (never meant to blow up) to draw attention away from the oil spill  :

People who think such nonsense got issues  :nod:

 

[vonGarvin]

Tons of people under the cbc.ca story in the comments stating that it was a CIA deception (never meant to blow up) to draw attention away from the oil spill  :

:rofl:

Of COURSE.  That's exactly why they did that


Boy, some comments on there are nuts

 

[SeanNewman]

Maybe they'll start screening car passengers like they do airport passengers.

 

[vonGarvin]

Maybe they'll start screening car passengers like they do airport passengers.

I already do ;D

 

[OldSolduer]

Yes!! The CIA and President Barak Obama cooked this one up!! When the World Trade Centre was taken down, the conspiracy nuts all blamed George W Bush.
No such turnabout fair play here is there?

 

[2010newbie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100503/ap_on_re_us/us_times_square_car_bomb

Police said the gasoline-and-propane bomb was crude but could have sprayed shrapnel and metal parts with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows on one of America's busiest streets, full of Broadway theaters and restaurants on a Saturday night.

More than 100 pounds of fertilizer rigged with wires and fireworks were found with the bomb, but police said it was not the ammonium nitrate grade that can explode.The surveillance video shows an unidentified white man in his 40s slipping down an alley and taking off a shirt, revealing another underneath. In the same clip, he's seen looking back in the direction of the smoking vehicle and furtively putting the first shirt in a bag, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The homemade bomb was made largely with ordinary items including three barbecue grill-sized propane tanks, two 5-gallon gasoline containers, store-bought fireworks and cheap alarm clocks attached to wires.

 

[George Wallace]

Well.  The investigation should go rather quickly.  The vehicle is intact, so they can find the VIN in another location.  The stolen Plates can be traced back to where they were stolen.  Most of the items that made up the 'bomb' can likely be traced back to location of purchase.  The video/security tapes in the area should give a fairly good description of the perp.  No doubt tourists are also being asked to provide any photos that may contain evidence.  I am sure with all the items and vehicle being intact, the matter of finding finger prints will be much easier, than gathering shrapnel from an exploded device.

Anyone think it will take a long time to find this guy?

 

[GAP]

The plates were stolen, but apparently the car owner didn't report it stolen....CBS news tonight.

 

[George Wallace]

The plates were stolen, but apparently the car owner didn't report it stolen....CBS news tonight.

Curious.  Something to hide?

 

[George Wallace]

Just to lighten your day:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Police eyeing link to South Park in Times Square car bomb

Article Link

By Alison Gendar, Rocco Parascandola and Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Originally Published:Sunday, May 2nd 2010, 1:46 PM
Updated: Sunday, May 2nd 2010, 4:54 PM

Police hunting the man who parked a crude but powerful car bomb in Times Square Saturday night are looking into a possible link to a South Park cartoon lampooning censorship about Mohammed.

No link has been established, but threats against the Comedy Central animators were made by a New York Islamist Web site last month and police are aggressively looking for connections, sources told the Daily News.

The dark-colored Nissan SUV, its engine running and hazard lights flashing, was parked on W. 45th St. right next to the Broadway headquarters of Viacom, which owns Comedy Central.

The Pathfinder was packed with propane, gasoline and fireworks and a rudimentary fuse had already been ignited.

A vendor saved the day when he saw smoke curling from the car at about 6:30 p.m. and alerted Officer Wayne Rhatigan.

The materials were primitive, but if the SUV had blown, officials said the inferno would have eclipsed the blazing lights of the Crossroads of the World.

"I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

"We are very, very lucky," said a police source.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the feds were taking it very seriously, treating it as "a potential terrorist attack."

"Right now, we have no information other than it is a one-off," she told ABC.
"Nonetheless, we are alerting state and local law enforcement - everybody - to be on their toes."

A Taliban official in Pakistan took credit in an audio tape posted to YouTube, but officials were hesitant to link the failed attack to international terrorist groups, calling it more likely a "one-off" or "lone wolf."

Preliminary signs suggest "that this was not part of any plot by al Qaeda or another known terrorist organization," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

He said the feds picked up no overseas "chatter" before Saturday night's attempted attack.

CBS reported that Pakistani intelligence officials were discounting the Taliban claim, saying the group does not have the global reach of al Qaeda.

The same group claimed credit for last year's Binghamton massacre of 13 people carried out by laid-off Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong, who had no ties to militant Islam.

Last month, RevolutionMuslim.com posted a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker murdered in 2004 for making documentary on violence against Muslim women.

It warned animators Trey Parker and Matt Stone - who had just shown Mohammed hidden in a bear suit - that "they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show."

Continued on Page 2 with more links.

 

[old medic]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/times-square-car-bomber-police-release-video-suspect/story?id=10534834

Federal authorities are closing in on the man they say is a person of interest in the Times Square car bomb attempt this weekend, who is described as a naturalized American citizen who hails from Pakistan and just returned after spending five months there.

There is growing evidence the bomber did not act alone and had ties to radical elements overseas, with one senior official telling ABC News there are several individuals believed to be connected with the bombing and that at least one of them is a Pakistani-American.

Attorney General Eric Holder said today the investigators had made "substantial progress" in tracking the man who drove a Nissan Pathfinder into New York's Times Square with a crude bomb that failed to detonate.

Officials declined to provide the specifics that led them to believe there were overseas links to a larger plot.

Authorities said another clue in the investigation is a video posted online early Sunday morning by persons in Connecticut, who may have been involved in the bomb attempt and are being sought by law enforcement. The video, posted on a site registered one day before the attack, has the Taliban in Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing.

The Washington Post, quoting Obama Administration sources, said the attempted bombing "increasingly appears to have been coordinated by several people in a plot with international links."

Other law enforcement officials said the investigation was closing in on the driver of the vehicle and an unknown number of others connected to him.

"This is moving very fast because they left behind a treasure trove of evidence in the unexploded car," one US official told ABC News.

Officials told ABC News Senior Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas that the Connecticut owner of the vehicle told them he had sold the Nissan SUV last month in an unrecorded sale to an "Arabic or Latino looking man" in his 20's or 30's, for a few hundred dollars in cash.

The license plate on the car was apparently stolen from an auto repair shop outside Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to law enforcement officials.

The authorities told ABC News that the previous owner provided a description of the man who bought the car, and told investigators the vehicle was sold for several hundred dollars in cash, with no written records identifying the purchaser.

The license plate found on the Pathfinder also came from Connecticut, #98CY09, according to photographs of the vehicle.
................................  Continues at link.