More suspected devices found in New Jersey
Five suspected explosive devices have been found in a backpack near a train station in New Jersey as security is stepped up following attacks at the weekend.
One of the devices, which was found near Elizabeth train station, exploded when a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it.
Train services have been suspended between Elizabeth and Newark Liberty Airport and New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New York Penn station.
Around 1,000 extra security personnel have already been deployed to New York following an explosion on Saturday night in Manhattan which injured 29 people.
The explosion went off in the trendy bar and restaurant district of Chelsea at 8.30pm.
A second device was later found four blocks away and was safely removed by the NYPD bomb squad.
According to the latest reports, they were both pressure cookers filled with shrapnel, similar to the bombs used at the 2013 Boston marathon which killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
Most of those injured in Chelsea suffered cuts and minor injuries from glass and debris. All have been treated and released from hospital.
At a press conference, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said: "It was intentional. It was a violent act. It was certainly a criminal act. It was a bombing. That’s what we know. To understand there were any specific motivations – political motivations, any connection to an organisation. That’s what we don’t know."
Talking about the stepped up security, he added: "You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week – bigger than ever. We would normally have an expanded presence for the United Nations General Assembly. You will see an even stronger presence now."
He said security would be in key places around the city, including Times Square, and would include new units such as the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Group.
"This new unit and the capacity that it has are crucial to keeping this city safe, and so you’ll see a lot of them this week," he said.
"The capacity we’ve built over the last two years in response to events we’ve seen around the world gives us the strongest anti-terror capacity of any city in the country. Again, it will be fully in use this week."
Two other attacks took place in the US over the weekend.
Nine people were wounded in a stabbing at a Minnesota shopping centre before the attacker, a young Somali man dressed as a private security guard, was shot dead. A news agency linked to ISIS claimed he was a ‘soldier of the Islamic state’.
On Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded on the route of a charity race in New Jersey, forcing the event to be cancelled but causing no injuries.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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