Mayor Bloomberg confirms bomb found in NYC

A T-Shirt vendor, said to be a Vietnam war veteran, had alerted police to the vehicle which was subsequently found to contain an improvised explosive device, it has now emerged. Gas canisters, batteries, fireworks, clocks and 2 five [US] gallon gasoline containers [37.8 litres] were amongst the items found in the vehicle. Mayor Bloomberg has confirmed that explosives were found in a green Nissan Pathfinder.

"We avoided what could of been a very deadly event." Lou Palumbo a New York security expert said the city was "really fortunate." Speaking to CNN he said, "This could have bee a very cataclysmic event." Times Square remains closed and further investigations are continuing. Mayor Bloomberg said that the city had been fortunate the bomb did not explode as intended. "We were lucky," he said, "a deadly event was avoided." There are no clues as to who may have perpetrated the failed attack and May Bloomberg said, "We don't know who did this or why."

Thousands of tourists and theatregoers were cleared from Times Square in New York after police sealed off the area. Police say they received a report of smoke issuing from a Nissan Pathfinder parked on 45th Street just west of Seventh Avenue at 18:30 local time Saturday [23:15 GMT].

tvnewswatch, Beijing, China