A man has set off a pipe bomb strapped to himself near New York's Times Square, injuring the suspect and three other people during the morning rush hour, in what city officials called an attempted terrorist attack.
Police said the explosion happened on December 11 in an underground passageway near the square. The 7:30 a.m. blast caused smoke to fill the passageway, which was crowded with commuters.
"This was an attempted terrorist attack," Mayor Bill de Blasio said, adding, "Thank God the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals."
Police Commissioner James O'Neill also said the blast was an attempted terror attack.
Police officials identified the suspect, who was detained at the scene of the blast, as 27-year-old Akayed Ullah. Officials said Ullah lived in Brooklyn and might be of Bangladeshi descent.
The suspect and three other people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The detonation was apparently accidental, and the bomb was a crudely manufactured low-grade explosive device, law enforcement officials said. It's not clear what the suspect had intended, they said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders tweeted that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the explosion.
