NY cops foil terror plot
PTI
NEW YORK, MAY 2
Police today foiled a major terror attack by defusing an “amateurish” but potentially powerful crude car bomb in the heart of the New York city’s famous tourist hub of Times Square, averting what could have been a “very deadly event” in the United States.
“We are very lucky,’ New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a hurriedly-organised press conference.
“We avoided what could have been a very deadly event,” he said. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.”
Traffic was stopped and redirected to the surrounding areas as police closed down a section of Times Square after a foot patrol officer spotted a parked Sports Utility Vehicle identified as a Nissan Pathfinder around 6:30 pm last evening (4 am ISI today).
The officer noticed a box inside the vehicle with smoke coming out of it. The car parked in a crowded area was later found to be loaded with a bomb made of electrical components, three propane gas tanks and two additional gas canisters.
Soon after hotels, shops and restaurants in and around the Times Square were shut down and thousands of people, including tourists, residents and theatre-goers, evacuated from the area.
