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Small bomb hits NY Times Square

An explosive device has caused minor damage to a military recruitment centre on New York City's Times Square.

The blast occurred before daybreak, when the centre was empty. No-one was hurt. A glass window was smashed.

Police blocked off the area. The recruiting station, located on a traffic island, has occasionally been the site of anti-war protests.

Asked if it could be a terror attack, a US Homeland Security Department told Reuters: "we're investigating."

Cars and police tape blocked surrounding streets.

The blast happened in the early hours of Thursday.

Witnesses staying at a Times Square hotel told the Associated Press news agency that they heard a "big bang" and could feel the building shake.

A plume of smoke was also visible after the explosion, they said.

At one point, subway trains passed through Times Square station without stopping, but normal service later resumed.

I don't doubt that our Soldiers and Sailors will have much more of this to put up with. It is a sad thing that they have to risk their lives fighting wars to protect the very people that are doing this. I think that these people need to be placed on the front lines for awhile. I'm sure that they would enjoy it. Maybe they could talk our way out of a war?  ::) ::)

Think of the irony in this ... anti-war/anti-violence yet they blow up buildings and risk getting someone hurt or killed.

I think this will all depend on who gets put in the big house come November.  If it is Osama or Hellary you can bet that our boys in uniform will have to endure a lot more of this, if not worse.  McCain will take a good stand on treating the boys with respect, but I think that will be about all he will be good for.

I guess I am just bitter that Huck did not make it.  But then I go if God wanted Huck in there, then God would have put him there.  I wish I had the pre-rapture play book :) 

Brother,

Things like this make me sick. I did have three opportunities to see my son and people he served with on three different bases. One of the bases was the Aircraft Carrier Nimitz. I'll just say that the experience was very uplifting, and I give thanks that I had the health to go. I got to meet many outstanding young men and women who were happy volunteers to serve their country. Most of them were also Christians, and I felt very fortunate to spend some time with them. My attitude about many things was uplifted because I saw the proof that everything isn't evil, doped up, and decadent. It made me happy to watch them pray, and I saw this on all three trips with different groups of sailors. They were proud PATRIOTS, and they represented the finest traditions of service and giving of themselves for others. If I had been 40 years younger, I would have joined up and happily gone with them.

All of this negative stuff at home DOES hurt them, but I give thanks that they know the vast majority of folks at home pray for them every day and deeply appreciate every drop of sweat and blood they shed to keep us safe and preserve our way of life. I really don't know what to say about folks with the "Berkley" mentality other than decent folks should have nothing to do with them. Maybe the "Berkley" types are selfish to the extent that they think NOTHING outside of themselves is worthy for any effort. I don't know if I explained this very well, but this is what I think. I don't know what percentage the "Berkley" types represent, but I think they are a tiny minority.

In the meantime, I think we can all take every opportunity to let our OUTSTANDING ARMED FORCES know that we pray for them, give thanks for them, and we are extremely proud of them.

Even if McCain makes it into office I expect to see more of this. In fact if McCain makes it then these nuts will be even more adamant about objecting to the Military.



AMEN!

'We did it' letters eyed in Times Square bombing
Photo, 32-page missive sent to congressional offices of 9 New York Democrats

"Happy New Year, We Did It," declared a sign held by a man who was photographed with the placard outside the recruiting center sometime before the early-morning blast. Cops were investigating whether he was the elusive bomber.

Copies of the photo and a 32-page missive that railed against the Iraq war and was signed "David Karne" were sent to nine congressional offices, a source briefed on the probe said.

Authorities had contacted Karne, but no one had been arrested, sources said.

One recipient was Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Bronx, Westchester), Senate and House sources said. Lowey and her staff were not immediately available for comment.

The rants were placed in 5-inch-by-8-inch manila envelopes with two $1 stamps and a white label with a Los Angeles return address on them, Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) said.

A source said cops expect up to 100 manifestoes to show up in the next 24 hours because the envelopes were numbered.

Capitol Police warned recipients to leave the envelopes unopened and contact investigators. They said the envelopes went through the standard security process, which involves radiating incoming mail and can take a week or more.

The blast was the work of a two-wheeled terrorist armed with a homemade bomb. It was similar to previous unsolved bombings at the British and Mexican consulates in Manhattan.

Homeland Security and FBI officials were analyzing the manifesto as city police hunted for the bomber.

No one was injured in the 3:40 a.m. attack in a largely empty Times Square. The bomber, who was filmed by a security camera, calmly rode off on his new red 10-speed bike after placing the bomb outside the station, police said.

A police source told the Daily News that the choice of a target in Manhattan's tourist mecca was meant to mock the NYPD.

"It's a taunt," the source said. "He picks a place where, during the day, it's crawling with cops. No one gets hurt, and he shows he can do this."

The suspect, his face obscured by a gray hooded sweatshirt, detonated the bomb behind an NYPD substation and beneath nearly two dozen security cameras.

Police stepped up security at city attractions and recruiting stations after the attack.

"Times Square is the 'Crossroads of the World,' and we're concerned about it," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Mayor Bloomberg said the blast "insults every one of our brave men and women in uniform stationed around the world."

A private security camera mounted at 1501 Broadway recorded the bicycle bomber at 3:37 a.m., riding unsteadily along the traffic island that holds the recruiting center just south of W. 44th St.

Police said a man walking across the traffic island was unnerved by the sight of the backpack-wearing bicyclist when their paths crossed, believing he was a mugger.

At 3:38 a.m., as the witness continued to 42nd St. to buy a paper, the bomber parked his bike at the side of the recruitment center and walked to the front. At 3:39 a.m., the bomber was back on the bicycle - and 57 seconds later, the device exploded, sending a plume of thick, white smoke into the night air.

An officer at the NYPD substation ran out, but the bomber was gone, police said.

The blast rattled midtown hotel guests, midnight shift workers and straphangers. Subway service was disrupted, and traffic was shut down in the area.

The bomber ditched his two-wheeled getaway vehicle in a trash bin outside an E.38th St. building, Bloomberg said.

"There is no reason to think this is anything other than perhaps somebody who is trying to protest the military," the mayor said before details of the photos and manifestoes were made public.

Cops were called to E. 38th St. after construction workers noticed the new bike in the garbage. Police lifted prints from the bike and were examining it for any additional forensic evidence. They also recovered more video of the suspect near where the bike was dumped.

Although police stopped short of tying the bicycle bomber to the two earlier blasts, there were similarities: All three occurred between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., and a suspect on a bicycle was spotted in each incident.

"In layman's view...the explosions are roughly similar," said Kelly, who called the bomb "an unsophisticated device."

Hollowed-out grenades - filled with black powder and a fuse - were used in the March 2005 attack on the British Consulate and last October's blast at the Mexican Consulate, police said. Portions of the Times Square device were sent to the FBI in Quantico, Va., for comparison to the grenades from the earlier blasts, police said.

A top and a side panel from the green metal box used to hold the explosives were recovered Thursday.

In the latest bombing, the nation's busiest recruiting station suffered shattered windows and twisted metal.

"I heard a boom," said Sandy Aris, 41, a parking attendant at a 43rd St. garage. "Everything in my booth moved."

A source said that authorities were checking whether the bombing was possibly linked to an incident last month along the Canadian border. Four men stopped there were found to be carrying information, photos and maps of recruiting stations in New York City, including the one in Times Square. Two of the men bolted but left behind a backpack with the material.