New York finds three potential bombs in 24 hours - and waits to find out why
Paul McGeough
18 Sep 2016, 6:19 p.m.
[Image] - An explosion in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood injured multiple people, police said. Photo: The New York Times
And so America waits, as experts search for a terrorist motive after two bombings in and near New York – and a third that failed to detonate.
Here's what they have been told:
8.30pm, Saturday: A "volcano" like explosion in or near a dumpster rattles the hip Chelsea district of Manhattan – injuring 29 bystanders, only one of whom was described as "seriously" so. By midnight the authorities had uncovered or were saying little about the nature of the blast on West 23rd Street – they ruled out a gas leak, but would not confirm a news report of CCTV footage showing a man dropping something into the dumpster.
12.12am, Sunday: The police warn residents on nearby West 27th Street to stay away from windows as they investigate a "suspicious package" – which several news outlets reported contained a pressure-cooker with wires and a mobile phone attached, prompting social media speculation of a bid to mimic the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.
9.30am Saturday: One of three pipe bombs that had been placed in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, about 160 kilometres south of New York, detonated without injury – in part because the race start was held up due to delays in registering competitors. As investigators from the NYPD bomb squad and the FBI joint terrorism taskforce combed the two Chelsea scenes, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described the blast as "an intentional attack", but he told reporters there was no evidence "yet" that it was a terrorist strike.
"All hands are on deck," the mayor said. "Injuries are significant … [but] at this point we can confirm that none of those injured are likely to die." With many analysts fearing a major terror attack in the lead-up to the November 8 presidential election, authorities are alert.
But limited as information was by the early hours of Sunday, the three incidents seemed more like small-scale, homegrown operations that conceivably might have been inspired by terrorism – but with none of the sophisticated foreign-based planning and coordination that would amount to a significant statement of terror.
By the early hours of Sunday there had been no claims of responsibility.
Each incident was ugly and that the three occurred in the same 24 hours is suggestive of possibly co-ordination of or by the perpetrators – but the Seaside Park device and the reported pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea were operational failures; and if the bigger dumpster bomb was a terror hit, it didn't pack the same punch as, say, the recent Orlando or San Bernardino massacres.
Mayor de Blasio sought to calm public anxiety, making three explicit points when he spoke at about 11pm Saturday – into each of which he inserted the caveat that the investigation had just begun.
One: "We want to be upfront saying that there is no evidence that there is a terror connection to this incident. This is preliminary information, this is something that we will be investigating very carefully, but there is no evidence at this point of a terror connection."
Two: "I also want to affirm that based on what we know at this hour there is no specific connection to the incident in New Jersey. It is again too early to say anything definitive on those questions but there's no specific evidence of a connection at this point.
Three: "I want to say more broadly, there is no specific and credible threat against New York City in this point of time, from any terror organisation … But we do want to be very clear. The early indications, the initial indications are that this was an intentional act."
Significantly, the only public figure to use the word "bomb" in connection with the dumpster explosion was Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who told reporters as he alighted from an aircraft in Colorado that "a bomb went off" in New York, which proved "we better get very tough, folks".
Speaking just 40 minutes after the Chelsea blast, Mr Trump said: "I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what's going on. But boy we are living in a time -- we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It's a terrible thing that's going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant."
There was an implied rebuke for Mr Trump pre-empting investigators in comments by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
She told reporters: "Obviously, we need to do everything we can to support our first responders — also to pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold it's important to know the facts about any incident like this.
"Let's try to figure out as much as we can by having the experts and professionals go through this and try to determine what you have to in order to trace it back and see who's behind it."
In Washington, President Barack Obama was at a congressional dinner, but a White House official said he "has been apprised of the explosion in New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation – [he] will be updated as additional information becomes available."
So will America
The story New York finds three potential bombs in 24 hours - and waits to find out why first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.
Manhattan explosion: New York on full alert city rocked by blast
Witnesses describe people ‘running for their lives’ after blast in Chelsea as police examine second device while mayor Bill de Blasio says no link to terror
Manhattan explosion: police investigate second suspected device – live
New York City firefighters at the site of an explosion in Chelsea, Manhattan on Saturday. Photograph: Andres Kudacki/AP
Martin Pengelly, David Taylor and Joanna Walters in New York
Sunday 18 September 2016 19.43 AEST
[...]
Despite the lack of official information about what had happened, far away to the west, at a rally in Colorado Springs, Trump said there had been a “bomb” in New York.
Moments after leaving his plane, according to pool reporters, Trump said: “I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on but, boy we are really in a time – we better get very tough, folks.
“We better get very tough. We’ll find out. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our world and in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant. We’ll see what it is. In any event, I am so thrilled to be in Colorado.”
"“I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on,” he said. “But boy, we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks.”"
Trump is so wired to milk any incident, any imagination or any tragedy to his own advantage he just can't help making a comment to do so. Then, of course, it's easy to move on. Attention still focused on gaining more advantage for him.
In his case it's all too often shit from the hip, and smothered in I'm the Greatest gravy.