Press. voanews.com.
New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio says people will have to patient to get the full story
behind Saturday night's bombing in Manhattan that injured 29 people in one of
the city's busiest neighborhoods. "We have more work to do to be able to
say what kind of motivation was behind this. Was it a political motivation? A
personal motivation...we don't know yet."
A law
enforcement official told the Associated Presses that investigators are not
putting much stock into a claim of responsibility posted earlier Sunday on the
Tumblr social media website. Tumbler has since taken down the post and has not
made any comments.
New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the blast was an "act of terrorism," but
said there is no evidence of "international terrorism."
Cuomo said
another 1,000 police and National Guard troops will patrol New York's subway
system "just to err on the side of caution." Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump tweeted his "warmest regards, best wishes and
condolences to all of the families and victims of the horrible bombing."
He had earlier said it is time to get "tough, smart, and vigilant."
Democrat Hillary
Clinton strongly condemned the New York bombing along with other "apparent
terrorist attacks" Saturday in Minnesota and New Jersey.
"I am
confident we will once again choose resolve over fear," she said. U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson again reminded people that they can
also fight terrorism by reporting anything suspicious to police, repeating the
slogan "if you see something, say something."
Saturday's
apparent bomb exploded outside a building in New York's Chelsea neighborhood,
where some of the city's most popular restaurants and bars are located.
It is unclear
why the Chelsea neighborhood was targeted.
Much of
Manhattan has been especially busy with residents and tourists taking advantage
of the late summer weather, and hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries
arriving this week for the United Nations General Assembly.
United Nations
spokesman Stephane Dujarric told VOA that officials assess security needs
inside the U.N. complex on a daily basis. "Outside of the gates, we are in
the hands of the host country, at the federal and local levels,” he said. “We
appreciate their work and, no doubt, they are doing their utmost to keep
everyone safe,” he added.
What We Know
About the NY Blast
A powerful
explosion went off outside 131 West 23rd Street around 8:30 p.m Saturday.
29 people were
injured but have since been released from the hospital. NY officials say
investigations continuing. No suspects, claim of responsibility or link to
international terrorism so far. Authorities are also investigating an
unexploded device found blocks from where the explosion occurred.
Chelsea resident
Michelle Katz told VOA she was in bed when something sounded "like a bomb
exploding or a truck driving into a building." Two minutes later,
"there were endless sirens," Katz told VOA. Another witness, Denise
Coles, said the bomb went off as she was pulling into a parking place.
"I turned
the car off and that's when we heard the explosion. It was like you could feel
it inside of you. I looked down the block and I saw the smoke coming out."
"We're fortunate that this didn't happen during the week, like a work day,
a Monday or Tuesday," said Steven Faria, who works at a nearby veterans'
hospital. "With all the people that work in this area, I think the
casualties would have been twice as many people."
City and federal
law enforcement also are investigating an unexploded device found just a few
blocks from the Chelsea bomb. Police say it looks like a pressure cooker
attached to a cell phone and wires in a plastic bag.
The New York
blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in a trash bin in a New Jersey
beach town Saturday 135 kilometers away, forcing the cancellation of a charity
foot race involving thousands of runners. No one was hurt and De Blasio and
Cuomo have said there is no evidence linking the two incidents. VOA reporters
Margaret Besheer, Esha Sarai, Ramon Taylor, Steve Herman, and Celia Mendoza
contributed to this report from New York.
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