Bomb-vehicle owner identified
Source: Agencies |
May 4, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE officials said yesterday that investigators had spoken to the registered owner of a sport utility vehicle used as a homemade car bomb in a failed terror attack in the heart of New York's iconic Times Square.
The driver of the vehicle is yet to be identified.
Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner for public information, would not give details on the registered owner, and would not say whether the person was a suspect.
The 1993 dark-colored Nissan Pathfinder didn't have a clearly visible vehicle identification number. Its license plates came from a car found in a Connecticut repair shop.
Investigators were also looking to speak with a man aged in his 40s videotaped shedding his shirt near the sport utility vehicle where the bomb was found.
The surveillance video, made public late on Sunday, shows a white man slipping down Shubert Alley and taking off his shirt, revealing another underneath. In the same clip, he furtively puts the first shirt in a bag.
Times Square was packed with tourists and theater-goers on a warm Saturday evening.
"He was seen leaving the scene," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on CNN yesterday. "So he may have been a witness. He may have observed something. He may be someone who was involved. We don't know."
She said it was vital to identify and speak to him.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly yesterday declined to call the man a suspect.
Investigators are poring over the vehicle and the explosive device, which was made of propane, gasoline and fireworks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" program, reiterated yesterday that there was "no legitimate evidence" of a link to al-Qaida, the Taliban or any other group in the incident, which prompted the evacuation of the area.
Kelly and Napolitano both said it was unclear whether the failed attack was staged by a single person or a group.
The Taliban in Pakistan said on Sunday it planted the bomb to avenge the killing in April of al-Qaida's two top leaders in Iraq. But Kelly said there was "no evidence" to support that claim.
Security at US airports was boosted in the wake of the incident to counter the possible planting of explosive devices.
The driver of the vehicle is yet to be identified.
Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner for public information, would not give details on the registered owner, and would not say whether the person was a suspect.
The 1993 dark-colored Nissan Pathfinder didn't have a clearly visible vehicle identification number. Its license plates came from a car found in a Connecticut repair shop.
Investigators were also looking to speak with a man aged in his 40s videotaped shedding his shirt near the sport utility vehicle where the bomb was found.
The surveillance video, made public late on Sunday, shows a white man slipping down Shubert Alley and taking off his shirt, revealing another underneath. In the same clip, he furtively puts the first shirt in a bag.
Times Square was packed with tourists and theater-goers on a warm Saturday evening.
"He was seen leaving the scene," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on CNN yesterday. "So he may have been a witness. He may have observed something. He may be someone who was involved. We don't know."
She said it was vital to identify and speak to him.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly yesterday declined to call the man a suspect.
Investigators are poring over the vehicle and the explosive device, which was made of propane, gasoline and fireworks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" program, reiterated yesterday that there was "no legitimate evidence" of a link to al-Qaida, the Taliban or any other group in the incident, which prompted the evacuation of the area.
Kelly and Napolitano both said it was unclear whether the failed attack was staged by a single person or a group.
The Taliban in Pakistan said on Sunday it planted the bomb to avenge the killing in April of al-Qaida's two top leaders in Iraq. But Kelly said there was "no evidence" to support that claim.
Security at US airports was boosted in the wake of the incident to counter the possible planting of explosive devices.
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