Makeshift grenades responsible for Consulate blasts
Two small makeshift grenades were used in the explosions outside a building housing the British Consulate in New York today.
Slight damage was caused to the building but no one was injured, officials said.
The blasts occurred at 8.50am Irish time and originated inside a cement flower box outside the consulate in midtown Manhattan, said police department spokesman Noel Waters.
Police said the devices were both toy grenades that had been altered to explode by the addition of black gunpowder. Police made the conclusion after piecing together the shrapnel.
They estimated that one was the size of a pineapple, the other the size of a lemon.
The blasts shattered a panel of glass in the building’s front door and ripped a one-foot chunk from the planter. The department’s bomb squad was at the scene and streets were closed in the area.
Investigators with flashlights searched the footpath outside the building before dawn.
“I heard a bang, that’s it,” said witness Ferdinand Pretd. “I came outside to check it out and I see nothing around, no flames, no smoke and that’s it. It looked like a bomb from here to me.”
The building has retail shops on the lower level.
