Explosion at Times Square military recruitment office causes minor damage

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 6, 2008) - A small explosion caused minor damage to a U.S. military recruiting centre in New York's Times Square area in the early hours of Thursday (March 6) but there were no injuries, police said.

Police said an improvised explosive device caused minor damage to the building around 3:45 a.m. (0845 GMT). The thick glass door was cracked and the lower part of its metal frame was twisted. The blast also shattered a window encasing the classic recruiting poster of Uncle Sam saying, "I want you."

The explosion occurred in the early hours of the morning, when there there are few people in the often bustling area in the heart of Manhattan.

Darla Peck said "You heard a loud boom and you could feel it all the way up on the 44th floor."

"I thought it was thunder, so I looked out to see if it was raining and a big plume of smoke came up that way, so something definitely did go off," onlooker Terry Leighton said.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said there was no sign of an immediate threat to the United States from the blast, and said the FBI was taking part in a probe of it.

The targeted building sits in a traffic island between Broadway and Seventh Avenue in Times Square, sometimes called the crossroads of the world. Anti-war protesters periodically stage demonstrations there, and the building has also been hit by vandalism in the past.

Asked if there was a link to terrorism in the incident, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner said the probe was still in its initial stages, but added "there is no credible information to suggest there is an imminent threat against the homeland at this time."

Police initially closed off the streets around the busy tourist and business area, but traffic was allowed through the square three hours after the explosion. Subway train operations through Times Square station were back to normal.

New Yorkers have been sensitive about such incidents since hijacked plane attacks destroyed the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. The Twin Towers were also targeted in 1993 by a truck bomb attack that killed six people.