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03-06-08, 07:55 AM
By RICHARD ESPOSITO
March 6, 2008
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Share A small explosive device rocked New York's Times Square early today, causing minor damage to a military recruiting station.
The device shattered a glass entryway to the installation, but no one was injured, police said.
Video
Blast in Times SquareLaw enforcement officials tell ABC News that a single, small improvised device was tossed, apparently by a man on a bike, at the armed forces booth in Times Square early this morning, causing the center of midtown Manhattan to be locked down and subways to be diverted but no major property damage.
Sources tell ABC News that the device was made from a green ammunition can filled with explosive powder. It blew out the lower part of the glass -- it's being described as a "low explosive."
Witnesses staying at a Marriott hotel four blocks away told The Associated Press they heard, and felt the blast.
"I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it. It was a big bang," Darla Peck, 25, of Portland, Ore., told the AP.
"It shook the building. I thought it could have been thunder, but I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke so I knew it was an explosion," said Terry Leighton, 48, of London, who was staying on the 21st floor of the Marriot.
Early in the investigation, subway cars passed through the Times Square station without stopping, but normal service was restored, with some delays, before the morning rush hour.
"If it is something that's directed toward American troops than t's something that's taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate," Army Capt. Charlie Jaquillard, commander of Army recruiting in Manhattan, told the AP.
The recruiting station, located on a traffic island surrounded by Broadway theaters and chain restaurants, has occasionally been the site of anti-war demonstrations, ranging from silent vigils to loud rallies.
The incident bore strong similarities to two past incidents where small homemade bombs or incendiary devices were tossed at official buildings in New York in the last two years. Two were tossed at the British consulate and more recently two were tossed at the Mexican consulate.
In each case a man on a bike was captured in hazy video images. In this case a man on a bike was seen leaving as well. Police found no second device this time.
Emergency service officers, bomb technicians and bomb sniffing dogs were combing the scene and collecting bits of metal that may have come from the device. They were packed with black power and detonated with fuses, but incapable of causing serious harm, police said.
In October 2005 a group of activists who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade rallied there against the Iraq War. Eighteen activists, most of them grandmothers with several in their 80s and 90s, were later acquitted of disorderly conduct.
The recruiting station was renovated in 1999 to better fit into the flashy ambiance of Times Square, using neon tubing to give the glass and steel office a patriotic American flag motif.
For a half century, the station was the armed forces' busiest recruiting center. It has set national records for enlistment, averaging about 10,000 volunteers a year
March 6, 2008
Font Size
Share A small explosive device rocked New York's Times Square early today, causing minor damage to a military recruiting station.
The device shattered a glass entryway to the installation, but no one was injured, police said.
Video
Blast in Times SquareLaw enforcement officials tell ABC News that a single, small improvised device was tossed, apparently by a man on a bike, at the armed forces booth in Times Square early this morning, causing the center of midtown Manhattan to be locked down and subways to be diverted but no major property damage.
Sources tell ABC News that the device was made from a green ammunition can filled with explosive powder. It blew out the lower part of the glass -- it's being described as a "low explosive."
Witnesses staying at a Marriott hotel four blocks away told The Associated Press they heard, and felt the blast.
"I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it. It was a big bang," Darla Peck, 25, of Portland, Ore., told the AP.
"It shook the building. I thought it could have been thunder, but I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke so I knew it was an explosion," said Terry Leighton, 48, of London, who was staying on the 21st floor of the Marriot.
Early in the investigation, subway cars passed through the Times Square station without stopping, but normal service was restored, with some delays, before the morning rush hour.
"If it is something that's directed toward American troops than t's something that's taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate," Army Capt. Charlie Jaquillard, commander of Army recruiting in Manhattan, told the AP.
The recruiting station, located on a traffic island surrounded by Broadway theaters and chain restaurants, has occasionally been the site of anti-war demonstrations, ranging from silent vigils to loud rallies.
The incident bore strong similarities to two past incidents where small homemade bombs or incendiary devices were tossed at official buildings in New York in the last two years. Two were tossed at the British consulate and more recently two were tossed at the Mexican consulate.
In each case a man on a bike was captured in hazy video images. In this case a man on a bike was seen leaving as well. Police found no second device this time.
Emergency service officers, bomb technicians and bomb sniffing dogs were combing the scene and collecting bits of metal that may have come from the device. They were packed with black power and detonated with fuses, but incapable of causing serious harm, police said.
In October 2005 a group of activists who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade rallied there against the Iraq War. Eighteen activists, most of them grandmothers with several in their 80s and 90s, were later acquitted of disorderly conduct.
The recruiting station was renovated in 1999 to better fit into the flashy ambiance of Times Square, using neon tubing to give the glass and steel office a patriotic American flag motif.
For a half century, the station was the armed forces' busiest recruiting center. It has set national records for enlistment, averaging about 10,000 volunteers a year