They just held a press conference and one of the reporters brought up that the truck was near the Viacom building (South Park).
Also, the car was parked close to the headquarters of Viacom, which owns the Comedy Central cable network.
Fabyane Pereira, 35, a tourist from Brazil, said the episode would not deter her from another visit. “I feel sorry for America,” she said. “I’m at your guys’ side.”
(http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/swimsuit/image/2007/07_brazil_group_01.jpg)
A group of people on a high school senior trip from Jacksonville, Fla., said they were stuck for about an hour and a half in the Bubba Gump restaurant at 44th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Times Square car bomb: police investigate South Park link
Police in New York are investigating whether a car bomb in Times Square was targeted at the makers of South Park over a controversial depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.
Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park - Matt Stone and Trey Parker - that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Mohammed in a bear suit.
A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women.
Images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, and Comedy Central, which broadcasts South Park, has banned Stone and Parker from depicting Mohammed in the past. In 2006 the network stopped them from featuring Mohammed in an episode which followed worldwide protests over a caricature of the Prophet by a Danish cartoonist.
Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.
In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.
David Paterson, the Governor of New York, described the Times Square incident as an "act of terrorism." He said: “Luckily, no one is hurt, and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism.”
The bomb was left inside a dark green Nissan Pathfinder, left with its engine running and hazard lights flashing near the junction of 45th Street and Broadway.
A T-shirt vendor, who was a Vietnam veteran, alerted police when he noticed smoke coming out of it. Police hurriedly evacuated thousands of tourists and theatre-goers, including women in evening gowns, from the area on Broadway's busiest night of the week.
Heavily armed police and FBI agents were deployed on the empty streets as bomb disposal experts used a robot to break the windows on the vehicle and remove explosive material. The car contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two five gallon gasoline containers, two clocks with batteries, electrical wires and a 4ft by 2ft metal box.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said: "I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg returned immediately to the city from a White House dinner. Speaking at the scene, he said: "We are very lucky. Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event. The bomb squad confirmed that the suspicious vehicle did contain an explosive device. We have no idea who did this or why."
He added: "Terrorists who want to take our freedoms away from us focus on the symbol of those freedoms, and that's New York City."
Mr Bloomberg said the wiring of the bomb "looked amateurish" and it had used "consumer grade fireworks" that were easily obtainable.
The alarm was raised at 6.34pm (10.34pm GMT) and six minutes earlier a security camera had recorded the Nissan heading west on 45th Street. Police have also established that the car's plates, which were from Connecticut, were not the ones registered to it. They have already spoken to the owner of the plates who said he had taken them to a junkyard.
Mr Bloomberg said police had no reports of anyone being seen running away from the vehicle after abandoning it. Times Square is four miles north of the site where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The area that was evacuated and shut down is one of the prime spots for Broadway shows, with seven theatres and shows including Billy Elliot.
Katy Neubauer, 46, who was shopping for souvenirs nearby, said there had been panic. She said: "It was a mass of people running away from the scene."Don Slovin, watching the police through the window of a shop a block away, said, "Of course it conjures up memories of 9/11."
President Barack Obama praised the quick response by the New York Police Department and said the federal government was prepared to provide support.
Bilal Abdulla, an NHS doctor from Iraq, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 after being found guilty of plotting the failed Tiger Tiger bombings. His accomplice, Kafeel Ahmed, died after driving an explosive-packed Jeep into Glasgow Airport the day after the attempted bombings in London.
[img]http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/swimsuit/image/2007/07_brazil_group_01.jpg
Police are saying it's a whitey.
Why would a white guy hate south park?It was a ginger.
:lolPolice are saying it's a whitey.
Whew. For a second I was worried this was the work of terrorism
I kind of hope this guy is a Tea Party dude.
Not really. Tons of people sell used cars like that, am nintenho. That's not really a rare thing.I'd imagine they know the customers' name though.
It's possible that the car's former owner is involved as the car sale was done pretty shadily.
It's possible that the car's former owner is involved as the car sale was done pretty shadily.
am nintenho: Security expert.
Truly, the areas of his expertise know no bounds.
The funny thing is that someone like him would have a better chance getting on CNN to discuss this than you :'(
Not having the details is the illegal part in California. If it turns out the guys isn't involved (and it sounds like he wasn't) he gets the award for dumbest oversight of the decade.
The attack seems so half assed I kinda wonder if it's some type of decoy for the real attack. Or maybe I watch too much 24
If this is the work of the Taliban, we have to take a look at why America is at war with such fucking amateurs. This doesn't help our image at all.
The attack seems so half assed I kinda wonder if it's some type of decoy for the real attack. Or maybe I watch too much 24
Well, looks like they caught the guy trying to flee from JFK. Apparently he's of Pakistani descent.
Disney owns timesquare. So you just know that this is personal for Manabyte.:lol
Disney owns timesquare. So you just know that this is personal for Manabyte.
Disney owns timesquare. So you just know that this is personal for Manabyte.
Sad this wasn't a teabagger.
Disney owns timesquare. So you just know that this is personal for Manabyte.
Sad this wasn't a teabagger.
Sad this wasn't a teabagger.
You're a sick sick man.
[youtube=560,345]yRmPTN07Iz4[/youtube]
I'm genuinely impressed with her mental gymnastics.
Eventually a white tea bagger is going to do something stupid. That seems like a given. I'm not hoping for that day, I just expect it to happen. And I wonder whether the right will want his constitutional rights revoked
I kind of hope this guy is a Tea Party dude.
Police are saying it's a whitey.
I reckon it was some white boys that did it.
I was really hoping that a whitey would be responible for this. I mean I was hoping there wouldn't be any terrorist attacks to begin with, but fuck. I'm always praying for the day we go back to being "distinguished mentally-challenged rich people living in tents."forwarded to the fbi. enjoy your extraordinary rendition.
Manic fundamentalists exist everywhere, afaik all of them crave for attention and love flaunting their muscles, so where the fuck are they?
Again, this is not me hoping for more attacks................ >_>
I love the way the media is quoting the suspect, like it's some episode of 24.:lol
AS THE SWAT TEAM STORMED THE PLANE, PARAMILITARY OFFICERS SWARMED THE SUSPECT AND POINTED THEIR WEAPONS AT THE MAN.
"I was expecting you," replied the solemn terrorist in a monotone voice, "Are you with the FBI or NYPD?"
This sounds like dialogue for a Splinter Cell game. :lol