One of my favorite restaurants is directly across the street. The person behind this STILL has not been found. I am glad no one was hurt.

The front door and window of the Times Square military recruiting office are shattered Thursday morning.

New York police officers with the bomb squad unit inspect the damage done by an explosive device to the military recruitment center Thursday, March 6, 2008 in New York’s Times Square. New York City police say some kind of explosive device was set off near a military recruiting station in Times Square. Police say there were no injuries in the blast early Thursday morning. The recruiting center at 43rd Street near Broadway had a large hole in the front window. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
6:03 a.m. ET, 3/6/08

Police probe cyclist link in Times Square blast

Area cordoned off after explosion at military recruiting station; no injuries

updated 5 minutes ago

NEW YORK – A witness saw a person on a bicycle acting suspiciously around the time a “low-order explosive device” damaged the Times Square recruiting station, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.

No one was injured in the 3:45 a.m. blast, but it left a gaping hole in the front window and shattered a glass door, twisting and blackening its metal frame. Police said investigators would have to examine the evidence to determine exactly what kind of device was used. The Department of Homeland Security said it was examining whether there was a terrorism link to the explosion.

“If it is something that’s directed toward American troops then it’s something that’s taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate,” said Army Capt. Charlie Jaquillard, who is the commander of Army recruiting in Manhattan.

He said no one was inside the station, where the Marines, Air Force and Navy also recruit.

The police department’s bomb squad, ATF agents and members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force were at the scene assisting the probe.

Witnesses report ‘big bang’
Witnesses staying at a Marriott hotel four blocks away said they could feel the building shake with the blast.

“I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it. It was a big bang,” said Darla Peck, 25, of Portland, Oregon.

“It shook the building. I thought it could have been thunder, but I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke so I knew it was an explosion,” said Terry Leighton, 48, of London, who was staying on the 21st floor of the Marriott.

Police officers and fire officials gathered outside the station in the early morning darkness, and police cars and yellow tape blocked drivers, most of them behind the wheels of taxicabs, from entering one of the world’s busiest crossroads. Police began allowing some traffic through around the start of rush hour.

Though subway cars passed through the Times Square station without stopping in the early hours of the investigation, normal service was soon restored, with some delays.

Asked if there was a link to terrorism in the incident, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner said “at this time we’re still investigating.”

Site of anti-war demonstrations
The recruiting station, located on a traffic island surrounded by Broadway theaters and chain restaurants, has occasionally been the site of anti-war demonstrations, ranging from silent vigils to loud rallies.

In October 2005 a group of activists who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade rallied there against the Iraq war. Eighteen activists, most of them grandmothers with several in their 80s and 90s, were later acquitted of disorderly conduct.

The recruiting station was renovated in 1999 to better fit into the flashy ambiance of Times Square, using neon tubing to give the glass and steel office a patriotic American flag motif. For a half century, the station was the armed forces’ busiest recruiting center. It has set national records for enlistment, averaging about 10,000 volunteers a year.

Link to other minor blasts?
Police said it was too early to say if the blast may have been related to two other minor explosions in the city.

In October, two small explosive devices were tossed over a fence at the Mexican consulate, shattering three windows but causing no injuries. No threats had been made against the consulate, and no one took responsibility for the explosion, police said.

At the time, police said they were investigating whether it was connected to a similar incident at the British consulate on May 5, 2005.

In that incident, the explosions took place in the early morning hours, when Britons were going to the polls in an election that returned Prime Minister Tony Blair to power.

In both cases, the instruments were fake grenades sometimes sold as novelty items. They were packed with black powder and detonated with fuses, but incapable of causing serious harm, police said.

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