- \n
- A powerful explosion caused by what authorities say was a homemade bomb set off in a sidewalk dumpster on 23rd Street (between 6h and 7th Ave.) at 8:30pm on Saturday night, injured at least 29 people; a second explosive device was also found four blocks away. The explosion, which occurred around 8:30 p.m., prompted the shutdown of a wide swath of Manhattan south of Midtown. The Police Department said at 1:15 a.m. Sunday that 14th Street to 32nd Street was closed to traffic between Fifth and Eighth Avenues until further notice.
\n![](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user5\/imageroot\/2016\/09\/14\/explosion%20location_0.jpg\")
<\/a><\/li>\n- The explosion shattered windows, damaged cars and sent crowds running from the scene. \u201cI heard a big boom,\u201d said Luke McConnell, who was visiting from Colorado and had been headed toward a restaurant on West 27th Street. \u201cI felt it, like a concussive wave, heading towards me.\u201d \u201cThen there was a cloud of white smoke that came from the left side of 23rd Street near Sixth,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was no fire, just smoke.\u201d<\/li>\n
- A law enforcement official said investigators were trying to figure out who was behind the explosion and what the motivations might have been. \u201cIt likely came from an improvised device,\u201d said one city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. \u201cWe don\u2019t understand the target or the significance of it. It\u2019s by a pile of Dumpsters on a random sidewalk.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Mayor Bill de Blasio speaking at a news conference at the scene, said \u201cinjuries are significant” but for the moment none were life-threatening. The mayor called the explosion \u201can intentional act\u201d but initially said there was no connection to terrorism. He cautioned that the authorities had just begun their investigation into the blast, which took place just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. \u201cWhatever the cause,\u201d Mr. de Blasio said, \u201cNew Yorkers will not be intimidated.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Many of the injuries were caused by shrapnel from the explosion, which witnesses said seemed to have come from a sidewalk dumpster on West 23rd Street, whose images quickly proliferated on Twitter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user5\/imageroot\/2016\/09\/14\/chelsea%20dumpster_0.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n- \n
- A second IED device, found on West 27th Street, was described as resembling a pressure cooker like the one used in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, an official said. A senior police official confirmed that photographs of the device shared on social media, which showed a silver piece of cookware with wires and a cellphone attached, were authentic. The official said the Police Department\u2019s bomb squad was taking the device to a department facility, where robots would inspect it. The official said investigators \u201cdon\u2019t have any suspects\u201d and were not questioning anyone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
NYC Police use robot to investigate 2nd device found near #Chelsea<\/a> bombing pic.twitter.com\/zsREBV2YZh<\/a><\/p>\n
— KCAL News (@kcalnews) September 18, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user5\/imageroot\/2016\/09\/14\/explosion%20location.jpg\")
<\/a><\/li>\n