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Friday, March 07, 2008
Updates: New York City Recruiting Center Blast
Fri Mar 7, 2008 8:54am EST
US checks border stop for link to New York blast
WASHINGTON, DC: U.S. authorities are checking whether several people
stopped at the Canadian border are linked to an explosion that damaged a
military recruiting station in New York, police said on Friday.
"Some pictures of Times Square, including the recruiting station, were found," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told CNN. "So federal officials are going back to take another look and talk to Canadian officials about that stop."
The pre-dawn blast on Thursday, caused by a crude bomb made from low-grade explosives, damaged the recruiting station but caused no injuries. That station, like others, has been the target of protests against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Times Square -- known as the "Crossroads of the World" for its shops, restaurants, hotels, theaters and office towers -- was largely deserted when the bomb went off at about 3:45 a.m. (0845 GMT). Still, the blast triggered a Pentagon alert for other recruiting stations across the country...
-- Source/continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN07308570
07:55 AM EST, March 7, 2008
Time Square bomb: Letter to Congress not related
WASHINGTON - Authorities on Friday were investigating whether an
explosion at the Times Square military recruiting office was connected
to strikingly similar bombings at two foreign consulates in New York,
but ruled out a link to mysterious letters sent to Capitol Hill
offices.
Investigators were also scrutinizing surveillance video and forensic evidence after a bicycle-riding bomber struck the landmark station Thursday, scarring one of the world's most recognizable locations.
Authorities said there was no connection between the blast and a letter sent to as many as 100 members of Congress bearing the words "Happy New Year, We Did It." The lengthy anti-war letters -- which arrived with photos of a man standing in front of the recruiting office before it was damaged -- contained no threats, officials said.
Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said an individual was questioned there about the letters to Congress and "there is no evidence linking the letters, which contained no threat, to the bombing." A law enforcement official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation of the bombing is continuing, called the timing of the letters an "incredibly unbelievable coincidence" and said no charges were expected in connection with them.
Democratic lawmakers were startled to receive the letters in their office mail just hours after the early morning New York bombing, and turned them over to the Capitol Police...
-- Source/continues: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyletter0308,0,6304302.story