US police found multiple improvised explosive devices in New Jersey, one of which detonated, the FBI said Monday as investigators probed three attacks carried out on US soil in one day.
Authorities say there is no evidence the attacks were coordinated but their timing in less than 24 hours raised fears about security — already a major issue in the country’s deeply divisive presidential election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
In the latest incident, “there was a suspicious package with multiple improvised explosive devices” found at the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station, tweeted the FBI’s Newark office after the devices were found late Sunday.
“In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated,” the FBI said, adding that nobody was injured.
Earlier the mayor of the city of Elizabeth, Chris Bollwage, told journalists that two men had found the package late Sunday and informed authorities after noticing “wires and a pipe.”
Police had already been investigating a Manhattan bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbing and a New Jersey pipe bomb blast.
New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police and National Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as President Barack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesday’s opening of the UN General Assembly.
Source: AFP
