New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has labelled the explosion that hit Manhattan’s Chelsea district an “intentional act”, but stopped short of identifying a specific motive behind the blast.
“Tonight, New York City experienced a very bad incident,” de Blasio told the media, referring to the 29 people injured by the explosion. One passer-by is believed to have suffered serious but non-lifethreatening injuries.
The mayor said “we have no credible and specific threat at this moment,” but “whatever the cause, whatever the intention here, New Yorkers will not be intimidated.”
“We are not going to let anyone change who we are or how we go about our lives.”
Although de Blasio initially downplayed links to terrorism, counter-terrorism operations in the city have been increased in the aftermath of the blast.
Earlier, authorities discovered a second device four blocks from the initial blast. Images that have spread on social media show a pressure cooker with wires and a mobile phone attached, sparking comparisons to the explosive devices used in the Boston marathon attack in 2013.
UPDATE: Picture reportedly shows pressure cooker device that police located near the New York explosion site. #9News pic.twitter.com/bh964zjlGC
— Nine News LA (@9NewsLA) September 18, 2016
It was safely removed from the scene by a police robot, and was taken to a police firing range for destruction.
A full press conference is expected later in the day, local time. We’ll update this story as it develops.
Source: CBS News / Associated Press.
Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty.
