From the AP.
NEW YORK – Police combed through a charred SUV and a crude assortment of explosives Sunday for clues to a failed Times Square bombing as a monitoring group reported that the extremist muslim Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the terrorist threat.
An intelligence monitoring group released a one-minute video allegedly from the Pakistani Taliban, in which it claimed responsibility for the failed bombing in a smoking SUV left parked in the city on Saturday night, clearing thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the city's busiest district.
The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors militant websites, said the Pakistani Taliban claims the attack is revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. Images of the slain militants are shown as an unidentified voice recites the message. English subtitles are at the bottom of the screen.
New York authorities were examining the SUV at a forensic lab for fingerprints, fibers and other evidence and had isolated a 200-pound gun locker at a police firing rang in the Bronx. They were trying to determine whether the locker, recovered from the SUV, could contain more powerful explosives that could have detonated the main explosive device.
The bomb, which partly detonated but malfunctioned, could have created a fireball that sprayed shrapnel that killed pedestrians in the immediate vicinity, top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."
Bloomberg called the explosive device "amateurish" but potentially deadly, noting: "We are very lucky."
Thousands of tourists were cleared from the streets for 10 hours after two vendors alerted police to the suspicious vehicle, which contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
NEW YORK – Police combed through a charred SUV and a crude assortment of explosives Sunday for clues to a failed Times Square bombing as a monitoring group reported that the extremist muslim Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the terrorist threat.
An intelligence monitoring group released a one-minute video allegedly from the Pakistani Taliban, in which it claimed responsibility for the failed bombing in a smoking SUV left parked in the city on Saturday night, clearing thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the city's busiest district.
The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors militant websites, said the Pakistani Taliban claims the attack is revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. Images of the slain militants are shown as an unidentified voice recites the message. English subtitles are at the bottom of the screen.
New York authorities were examining the SUV at a forensic lab for fingerprints, fibers and other evidence and had isolated a 200-pound gun locker at a police firing rang in the Bronx. They were trying to determine whether the locker, recovered from the SUV, could contain more powerful explosives that could have detonated the main explosive device.
The bomb, which partly detonated but malfunctioned, could have created a fireball that sprayed shrapnel that killed pedestrians in the immediate vicinity, top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."
Bloomberg called the explosive device "amateurish" but potentially deadly, noting: "We are very lucky."
Thousands of tourists were cleared from the streets for 10 hours after two vendors alerted police to the suspicious vehicle, which contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
