Police puzzled by Times Square bomb
A small bomb caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early today.
Police blocked off the area to investigate the explosion, which happened at about 3.45 am. No one was injured. The blast smashed the front window and shattered a glass door.
Police said they had no clues as to who carried out the attack, but a witness saw a person on a bicycle wearing a backpack and acting suspiciously.
Guests at a Marriott hotel four blocks away said they could feel the building shake with the blast.
"I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it. It was a big bang," said Darla Peck, 25.
"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 Briton Terry Leighton, 48, from London, who was staying on the 21st floor.
Members of the police department's bomb squad and fire officials gathered outside the station in the early morning darkness, and police cars and yellow tape blocked drivers - most of them behind the wheels of taxicabs - from entering one of the world's busiest crossroads. Police began allowing some traffic through around the start of rush hour.
Though subway cars passed through the Times Square station without stopping in the early hours of the investigation, normal service was soon restored, with some delays.
The recruiting station, located on a traffic island surrounded by Broadway theatres and chain restaurants, has occasionally been the site of anti-war demonstrations, ranging from silent vigils to loud rallies.
Police said it was too early to say if the blast may have been related to two other minor explosions in the city.
In October, two small explosive devices were tossed over a fence at the Mexican consulate, shattering three windows but causing no injuries. No threats had been made against the consulate, and no one took responsibility for the explosion, police said.
At the time, police said they were investigating whether it was connected to a similar incident at the British consulate on May 5, 2005.
In that incident, the explosions took place in the early hours, when Britain was going to the polls in the election that returned Tony Blair to power.
In both cases, the instruments were fake grenades sometimes sold as novelty items. They were packed with black power and detonated with fuses, but incapable of causing serious harm, police said.
