U.S. considers failed “amateurish” bombing a potential terrorist attack
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, a T-shirt vendor in Times Square, New York City, alerted police to a smoking Nissan Pathfinder parked on the street. Thousands of tourists were evacuated from the area and police proceeded to dismantle an “amateurish” device found in the back of the sport-utility vehicle. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters they uncovered three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon (19-litre) gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and a black metal box resembling a gun locker. “We avoided what we could have been a very deadly event,” said New York City’s mayor Michael Bloomberg. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN that the U.S. are treating the event as a potential terrorist attack.