A man set off a pipe bomb in a transfer tunnel near Times Square on Monday morning, injuring three, a new bombing in New York after a ramming truck attack in late October.
“This is an attempted terrorist attack,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.
The blast occurred at 07:20 a.m. (12:20 GMT) rush hour in a tunnel connecting major transport hubs of Times Square and the Port Authority bus station near 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. .
The blast was triggered by a 27-year-old man, identified as Akayed Ullah, from Brooklyn, who was carrying “a crude explosive device” on his body, police chief James O’Neill said.
The suspect was arrested, with “bodily injuries and burns”, Mr O’Neill added. Three people who were in the immediate vicinity were also injured, although “none is in mortal danger” according to New York firefighters.
The bus station was quickly evacuated, the neighborhood cordoned off, and several metro lines that pass through the area were immediately stopped or stopped. Much of the traffic, however, was restored shortly before 10:00 a.m. (3:00 p.m. GMT).
The evacuation was done without panic, calmly, according to AFP journalists on the spot.
Former New York City Police Chief Bill Bratton told MSNBC he was told the suspect was from Bangladesh and was acting on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group. This information was not immediately confirmed by the authorities.
President Donald Trump was immediately notified, the White House said.
The incident comes in the run-up to the holiday season, which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to the most populous city in the United States. Times Square is a particularly hot spot, where nearly a million people gather every year to mark the start of the New Year.
New York is considered a prime target for terrorist movements and is subject to particularly close surveillance, with thousands of uniformed and plainclothes police permanently deployed in many tourist locations.
Monday’s attack comes less than six weeks after a deadly attack on the tip of Manhattan on October 31: on Halloween, a ram truck attack left eight dead and twelve injured on the southern tip of Manhattan, constituting the first fatal attack in New York since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old Uzbek, rode a rental pickup up a bike path along the Hudson River, mowing down cyclists and passers-by who were in his way before crashing into a school bus.
The suspect, who had pledged allegiance to IS, was immediately arrested and imprisoned. He has since been charged and faces life in prison. Donald Trump even called for the death penalty for him.
The American financial capital has been the scene of other attempted attacks in recent years, most often “lone wolves” claiming Islamist jihadism, which had not caused any deaths until October 31.
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