NEW YORK: An explosion in a crowded Manhattan neighborhood on Saturday night left 29 people injured, and authorities removed a suspicious device that was discovered just blocks away. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the blast an “intentional act,” but said there was no terrorist connection.
“Tonight, New York City experienced a very bad incident,” de Blasio said at a news conference near the scene in Chelsea. “We have no credible and specific threat at this moment. “
De Blasio said the blast was “an intentional act” and tried to calm any fears among nervous New Yorkers, saying the explosion had no terrorist connection and wasn’t related to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey at a charity run.
It was unclear who was behind the blast and what motivated it.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that a second device that officers investigated four blocks from the scene appeared to be a pressure cooker attached to wiring and a cellphone. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation, said the device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street.
The device was removed with a robot and taken to the department firing range in the Bronx, officials said.
The law enforcement official also said that the explosion appears to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building. Photos from the scene show a twisted and crumpled black metal box.
The blast happened on West 23rd street, in front of a residence for the blind, near a major thoroughfare with many restaurants and a Trader Joe’s supermarket. Witnesses say the explosion at about 8:30 p.m. blew out the windows of businesses and scattered debris in the area. Officials said no evacuations were necessary.
Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said several people were taken to hospitals with injuries. One of the injured suffered a puncture wound that was considered serious. He said the other injuries were minor, described as scrapes and bruises.
When officers were investigating the second site, Police spokesman J. Peter Donald tweeted a warning to residents to stay away from windows facing 27th Street.
A number of New York City subway routes were affected by the explosion, which rattled some New Yorkers just weeks after the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area.
“We felt it, we heard it, the restaurant went real quiet, the 26-year-old Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t like jolting or anything, everyone just went quiet.”
Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at Vanity Nightclub at 21st Street and 6th Avenue, said he, at first, thought something large had fallen.
“It was an extremely loud noise, everything was shaking, the windows were shaking, it was crazy,” he said. “It was extremely loud, almost like thunder, but louder.”
The FBI and Homeland Security officials, along with the ATF arson and explosive task force were also at the scene.
The White House said President Barack Obama has been apprised of the explosion in New York City and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
In St. Cloud, Minnesota, police said multiple people were injured at a shopping mall Saturday evening in an attack that possibly involved both a shooting and stabbing. The suspect was believed to be dead.
Hillary Clinton says she has been briefed “about the bombings in New York and New Jersey and the attack in Minnesota.”
She says the nation needs to support its first responders and “pray for the victims.”
“We have to let this investigation unfold,” she said.
Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a “bomb went off” in the city before officials had released details. He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane during a rally at an airport hangar in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“I must tell you that just before I got off the plane a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows what’s going on,” Trump said.
He continued, “But boy we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. It’s a terrible thing that’s going on in our world, in our country and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant.”
The Republican presidential nominee made the comments around 9:10 p.m., shortly after the explosion and as emergency officials responded to the blast. A spokeswoman for Trump did not respond to an e-mail asking whether he was briefed about the incident before taking the stage.
The report of the blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was canceled and no injuries were reported.
___
Associated Press writers Jake Pearson, Ezra Kaplan and Maria Sanminiatelli in New York and Eric Tucker and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.
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Manhattan explosion leaves 29 hurt; 2nd device probed
Manhattan explosion leaves 29 hurt; 2nd device probed
Ex-president’s war crimes trial sparks fierce debate in Kosovo
PRISTINA: In Kosovo, where former guerrilla leaders are still celebrated as heroes, the war crimes trial of ex-president Hashim Thaci and other senior commanders has reignited bitter debate over the legacy of the independence struggle.
The trial in The Hague, which hears closing statements this week, involves Thaci and three other senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1990s war against Serbia.
All are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging they bear criminal responsibility for murders, torture and illegal detentions carried out by KLA members.
Thaci, who immediately resigned from the presidency after his indictment, and his co-accused all pleaded not guilty.
But in the Balkan nation, the trial has sparked protests, political backlash, and public anger.
For many in Kosovo, the trial represents the prosecution of the KLA itself, and with it the country’s independence movement, says international relations specialist Donika Emini.
“For decades, the KLA and its members have been glorified for their role in the war, while the court has challenged this dominant narrative,” said Emini, a researcher at the University of Graz Center for Southeast European Studies.
-’Unprecedented injustice’-
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers was set up by the country’s parliament. It investigates and prosecutes suspected war crimes committed by ethnic Albanian guerrillas during the war.
Critics of the trial object to the fact that Serbia, which has never recognized Kosovo’s independence, has provided some of the evidence used at the trial. This, they argue, indicates bias in the proceedings.
The scale of atrocities committed by Serbian police and military during the war makes their involvement particularly sensitive. Thousands of ethnic Albanian victims were discovered in mass graves after the end of the war.
But the indictment against Thaci and the other defendants alleges that KLA members also committed crimes against hundreds of civilians and non-combatants at detention sites in Kosovo and northern Albania.
The victims, it says, included Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians deemed political opponents.
Although the court is part of Kosovo’s judicial system, it is nevertheless based in The Hague and staffed solely by international judges in a bid to protect witnesses from possible retribution at home.
But its foreign location has fueled resentment back in Kosovo. It was hard to find anyone on the streets of the capital who supported the trial.
“This is an unprecedented injustice,” Agim Zuka, 63, told AFP in Pristina.
“There is no reason to try them. They have only fought the just war of the Albanian people of Kosovo,” 61-year-old Bahtije Rashica said.
- Protest march -
A march in support of the defendants has been organized to mark the country’s independence day — which also happens to come just before the final day of closing arguments in the trial.
Thaci’s own party organized the protest, which is expected to draw large crowds after weeks of nationwide campaigning against the trial.
Giant photos of Thaci and co-accused Kadri Veseli have also been placed in prominent squares in several towns and cities.
“This campaign has fueled resistance to the court and has been quite effective in articulating criticism for the lack of transparency and perceived inconsistencies in its work,” said the academic Emini.
But the case against the four has taken decades to build and contains extensive details of brutal crimes allegedly committed by members of the KLA between 1998 and 1999.
The prosecutors argue that, as senior figures in the armed militia, they ran a “joint criminal enterprise” that murdered, tortured, persecuted and illegally detained people at dozens of sites in Kosovo and Albania.
-’No common narrative’-
The court’s attempts at outreach have faced a backlash inside the country.
In May, a planned press briefing from its president had to be scrapped after smoke bombs were set off in front of her hotel, while school lectures from court officials drew outrage from politicians and some media outlets.
“Each decision of the Special Court not only affects individuals, but is closely linked to the history of the state and the identity of Kosovo,” said Emini.
Any outcome, particularly a guilty verdict, would change international perceptions of a “sensitive period” that had “no common narrative in the Balkans or in Kosovo,” she added.
“It will undoubtedly have symbolic consequences and will change the narrative and the way history will see Kosovo.”
The trial in The Hague, which hears closing statements this week, involves Thaci and three other senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1990s war against Serbia.
All are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging they bear criminal responsibility for murders, torture and illegal detentions carried out by KLA members.
Thaci, who immediately resigned from the presidency after his indictment, and his co-accused all pleaded not guilty.
But in the Balkan nation, the trial has sparked protests, political backlash, and public anger.
For many in Kosovo, the trial represents the prosecution of the KLA itself, and with it the country’s independence movement, says international relations specialist Donika Emini.
“For decades, the KLA and its members have been glorified for their role in the war, while the court has challenged this dominant narrative,” said Emini, a researcher at the University of Graz Center for Southeast European Studies.
-’Unprecedented injustice’-
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers was set up by the country’s parliament. It investigates and prosecutes suspected war crimes committed by ethnic Albanian guerrillas during the war.
Critics of the trial object to the fact that Serbia, which has never recognized Kosovo’s independence, has provided some of the evidence used at the trial. This, they argue, indicates bias in the proceedings.
The scale of atrocities committed by Serbian police and military during the war makes their involvement particularly sensitive. Thousands of ethnic Albanian victims were discovered in mass graves after the end of the war.
But the indictment against Thaci and the other defendants alleges that KLA members also committed crimes against hundreds of civilians and non-combatants at detention sites in Kosovo and northern Albania.
The victims, it says, included Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians deemed political opponents.
Although the court is part of Kosovo’s judicial system, it is nevertheless based in The Hague and staffed solely by international judges in a bid to protect witnesses from possible retribution at home.
But its foreign location has fueled resentment back in Kosovo. It was hard to find anyone on the streets of the capital who supported the trial.
“This is an unprecedented injustice,” Agim Zuka, 63, told AFP in Pristina.
“There is no reason to try them. They have only fought the just war of the Albanian people of Kosovo,” 61-year-old Bahtije Rashica said.
- Protest march -
A march in support of the defendants has been organized to mark the country’s independence day — which also happens to come just before the final day of closing arguments in the trial.
Thaci’s own party organized the protest, which is expected to draw large crowds after weeks of nationwide campaigning against the trial.
Giant photos of Thaci and co-accused Kadri Veseli have also been placed in prominent squares in several towns and cities.
“This campaign has fueled resistance to the court and has been quite effective in articulating criticism for the lack of transparency and perceived inconsistencies in its work,” said the academic Emini.
But the case against the four has taken decades to build and contains extensive details of brutal crimes allegedly committed by members of the KLA between 1998 and 1999.
The prosecutors argue that, as senior figures in the armed militia, they ran a “joint criminal enterprise” that murdered, tortured, persecuted and illegally detained people at dozens of sites in Kosovo and Albania.
-’No common narrative’-
The court’s attempts at outreach have faced a backlash inside the country.
In May, a planned press briefing from its president had to be scrapped after smoke bombs were set off in front of her hotel, while school lectures from court officials drew outrage from politicians and some media outlets.
“Each decision of the Special Court not only affects individuals, but is closely linked to the history of the state and the identity of Kosovo,” said Emini.
Any outcome, particularly a guilty verdict, would change international perceptions of a “sensitive period” that had “no common narrative in the Balkans or in Kosovo,” she added.
“It will undoubtedly have symbolic consequences and will change the narrative and the way history will see Kosovo.”
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