Police follow camera lead in NYC blasts
No injuries in morning explosions outside British Consulate
 |  The explosions shattered windows at a building housing the British Consulate in New York Thursday. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 CNN's Jason Carroll has more on the makeshift bombs.
|
|
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two makeshift bombs rigged from "novelty-type grenades" exploded in front of a building that houses the British Consulate and other offices early Thursday morning, officials said.
The blasts shattered windows but caused no injuries and no significant damage, the New York Police Department said.
They occurred as voters in Britain were casting ballots in a general election in which Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a historic third term for his Labor Party. (Full story)
"It is true the British Consulate is in that building, but I don't think anybody should jump to conclusions," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters at the scene in midtown Manhattan.
Police said a security camera on the building picked up a good image of someone in connection with the incident and authorities were searching for that person.
The devices, which contained black gunpowder and a fuse, blew out a 1-foot (30-centimeter) chunk of concrete in a flower box in front of the building, sending it into a glass panel.
Earlier, a Dutch national employed as a satellite-imagery analyst with UNMOVIC, the United Nations weapons inspections agency, was briefly detained for questioning a few hours after the explosions, a U.N. official said.
The New York police and the FBI said the man was not a suspect. Police said he was detained only because he was asked not to cross a police tape and did so anyway. A police official said the man may have been drinking.
Less than a mile away from the blasts at U.N. headquarters, security was tightened after the incident was reported -- around 3:35 a.m., police said.
The British Consulate is on the 9th and 10th floors of the building at 845 Third Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets, a nondescript office block in an upscale area.
"There's no reason to jump to the conclusion that any one floor of that building was a target at this particular time," Bloomberg said.
"So far, nobody reported seeing anybody at the scene," the mayor said, noting there had been no warning call beforehand or any call claiming responsibility.
One of the grenades was the shape of a pineapple and the other a lemon, an investigator said, noting that similar items could be purchased at any toy store.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called them "novelty-type ... fake grenades, not active hand grenades," replicas of the kind used in World War II, "the type that people might have on their desks."
Police said the grenades had been altered to explode by the addition of black gunpowder. Bloomberg called the devices "unsophisticated."
"It was one of those things you light and then run," a police spokesman told the UK's Press Association.
Kelly said the grenades possibly had a single fuse, not unlike that on a firework such as a "cherry bomb," that was lit by hand.
Shrapnel was found as far as a half-block away, Kelly said.
Kelly said security camera footage appeared to show a device striking the building after being thrown. But he said the video was of poor quality and needed enhancing to be of value.
Survellance cameras on other buildings showed a female jogger, a cyclist and a taxi in the area around the time of the blasts, Kelly told reporters.
"At this time, we have no eyewitnesses," Kelly said. "Anyone with information, we ask them to call."
The road was closed for two blocks on either side of the building, which was surrounded by police and bomb squad experts.
Kelly said no other suspicious items were found around the building, and that sweeps of other diplomatic locations in New York also turned up nothing.
People in the area described hearing two loud blasts just seconds apart.
Santos Figuroa was working down the street and said he heard "two loud bangs" that "sounded like thunder."
Protest site
Other tenants in the 15-story building include The Conference Board, a private firm that compiles several U.S. economic indicators that help gauge the state of the American economy.
The company's executive vice president and chief economist, Gail Fosler, was the target of an April 14 demonstration by activists against earth-moving equipment maker Caterpillar. Fosler is a Caterpillar board member.
During the protest, demonstrators held signs outside the building claiming that Caterpillar supports human rights abuses in the Middle East by supplying equipment used to destroy Palestinian homes.
The protest was part of the International Day of Action Against Caterpillar, organized in the United States by the group Jewish Voice for Peace.
Other companies with offices in the building include Asahi Shimbun, Japan's largest newspaper; CorpBanca, a Latin American bank; Fundacion Amistad, a group that promotes understanding between the United States and Cuba; the Weather Channel; Liquid Realty Partners; Rosenzweig and Maffia CPAs; Rudin Management Company; and dozens of attorneys.
People who worked in the building were allowed inside via a service entrance around 10 a.m.
British Consul General Sir Philip Thomas arrived on the scene after the blasts and spoke to FBI officials and detectives. He told reporters he had "no cause to believe" his office was the target of the explosion.
In Chicago, two blocks of Michigan Avenue were closed briefly near the British Consulate as a precautionary measure. The street reopened before the morning rush hour.
The British Foreign Office said there were no provisions for Britons to vote at overseas consulates, The Associated Press reported.
Britain's diplomatic representation abroad has been targeted for terrorist attacks in the past. (Full story)
In November 2003, a suicide bomb attack devastated the British Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Those who died in that incident included Consul General Roger Short, the UK's top envoy in Istanbul.
CNN's Jason Carroll, Richard Roth, Dana Garrett and Debra Goldschmidt contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
