New York City Chelsea bombing 2016 updates: Mayor de Blasio calls it ‘bomb’

Published 12:25 pm Sunday, September 18, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on an explosion hitting a crowded Manhattan neighborhood (all times local):

12:35 p.m.

New York City’s mayor says an explosion that rocked a Manhattan neighborhood Saturday night was caused by a bomb.

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But Bill de Blasio said Sunday that authorities don’t yet know who made it, who set it off or the motivation behind it.

An explosion on a residential street in the Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. All of the injured have been released from the hospital.

Earlier Sunday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the bombing didn’t appear to have any link to international terrorism.

A second device was discovered blocks away, removed by a bomb squad robot and is being examined at a police facility.

Investigators want to determine how it was made and whether it is similar to the device that caused the first blast.

Authorities say there was no structural damage from the blast.

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10:35 a.m.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says there’s no evidence that an explosion that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood, injuring 29 people, had any link to international terrorism.

Cuomo spoke Sunday morning near the site of the Saturday night blast on West 23rd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood. He noted that the device in Manhattan appeared to be different than a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey and said he didn’t believe the two were connected.

Authorities found a second device in Manhattan a few blocks away from the one that exploded and removed it.

Cuomo says the injured have been released from the hospital. Most of the injuries were minor.

The Democratic governor also said that 1,000 additional law enforcement officers were being deployed as a precaution.

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3:45 a.m.

An explosion rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood and injured 29 people, and a suspicious device discovered blocks away from the scene was safely removed. Mayor Bill de Blasio ruled out any terror connections, but called the blast an “intentional act.”

Early Sunday, police said an investigation into a third suspicious package turned up a bag of trash.

An explosion rocked the block of West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Officials said 29 people were injured. Most of the injuries were minor.

The blast is under investigation. A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that the second device discovered a few blocks from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a cellphone.