Once again, America's best defense against terrorism is an ever vigilant public.
Unexploded car bomb in Times Square 'amateurish one-off' terrorism attempt
Alexandra Frean, New York
Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, said today that the unexploded car bomb found in Times Square in New York late yesterday appeared to be an "amateurish" terrorism attempt.
Ms Napolitano said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security and the City of New York were examining security video from the area around the vehicle, a Nissan SUV, which was towed early on Sunday to a forensic lab in Queens after a robotic arm was used to break the windows and remove the most dangerous materials.
There was no information to suggest that there are any other terrorism targets linked to the incident and the evidence so far suggested that this was a "one-off attempt", Ms Napolitano told Fox News.
"There are a lot of cameras in that area," she said, adding that fingerprints had been recovered from the vehicle.
Heavily armed police and emergency vehicles shut down some of the city's busiest streets on Saturday night in the area around the suspect vehicle after it was spotted by a street vendor who alerted a passing patrolman at around 6.30pm. Some hotels and shops were evacuated. But by early morning on Sunday it was business as usual.
Aliou Niasse, a street vendor selling framed photographs of New York, said that he was the first to spot the car containing the bomb, which pulled up right in front of his cart on the corner of 45th street and Broadway next to the Marriott hotel.
“I didn’t see the car pull up or notice the driver because I was busy with customers. But when I looked up I saw that smoke appeared to be coming from the car. This would have been around 6.30pm.
“I thought I should call 911, but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” said Mr Niasse, who is originally from Senegal and who has been a vendor in Times Square for about eight years.
Duane Jackson, a 58-year-old handbag vendor, said that he noticed the car at around 6.30pm and wondered who had left it there.
“That was my first thought: 'Who sat this car here?',” Mr Jackson said, adding that he looked in the car and saw keys in the ignition with 19 or 20 keys on a ring.
He said that he alerted a passing mounted police officer. “That's when the smoke started coming out and then we heard the little pop pop pop like firecrackers going out and that's when everybody scattered and ran back,” he said.
“Now that I saw the propane tanks and the gasoline, what if that would have ignited?” Mr Jackson told the Associated Press. “I'm less than eight feet away from the car. We dodged a bullet here.''
He thought the car may have been there for no more than ten or fifteen minutes.
Authorities said that the bomb, made of three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two filled 5-gallon (19-litre) petrol containers, two clocks and electrical wire, could have killed many people.
"This wasn't make-believe. This wasn't a false alarm. This was the real deal — to hurt people," said Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano, adding that the force of a bomb could have taken down the front of a building.
Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, said that the city had avoided “a very deadly event”.
“It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact,” he said, adding: “We have no idea who did this or why."
No suspects were in custody, but Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that surveillance video showed the car driving west on 45th street before it parked.
Police said that a Connecticut license plate on the vehicle did not match up with the car. The Connecticut owner of the plates told police he had sent them to a junk yard.
There was no word on whether the timers found in the device had been activated to explode the bomb at a particular time.
President Obama praised the response of the New York police and said that the federal Government was prepared to provide support.
Tourists who had been evacuated from the area on Saturday evening took events in their stride. A Cunard tour party from Britain checked out of the Marriott hotel early on Sunday, as planned.
Diane Colavecchio, a hairdresser from Connecticut who was visiting New York with her friend Laura Dowling, said that they were allowed back up to their room in the Marriott at around 10pm.
“It was kind of scary going back to our rooms knowing that they were investigating whether there was a bomb still there,” she said.
Margaret Gourdin from Ashville, North Carolina, who was staying at the Marriott with her husband Frederick, said that they had been woken by Marriott staff at around 1.30am and evacuated to the hotel’s ball room for a couple of hours.
“There was a knock on the door and they told us to get dressed and to come right down to the ball room. There they gave us pillows and duvets. Everybody was very calm, but it was hard to sleep.
“Nobody seems angry or upset about it. After 9/11 people have learned to listen up and to do what they are supposed to do,” she said.
The New York Five Boro Bike Tour, involving more than 30,000 cyclists, went ahead as planned, passing down sixth avenue, just yards away from the site of the bomb.
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