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FBI questions suspects in connection to Manhattan bombing

After a bomb exploded in a dumpster in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan Saturday night, authorities are working to determine who caused it and why.

Authorities questioned several people early Monday in connection with the Saturday night blast in the heart of Chelsea, a popular Manhattan neighborhood, which left 29 people injured.

The five suspects were stopped in a car in Brooklyn as authorities work to determine if there is a connection between an explosion that rocked the New York City neighborhood, an unexploded pressure-cooker device found blocks away, an earlier pipe bomb blast at a New Jersey shore town and explosive devices found at a New Jersey train station.

FBI agents stopped on Sunday night “a vehicle of interest in the investigation” of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser. She did not provide further details, no one has been charged with any crime, and the investigation is continuing.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that while it is obviously terrorism, there does not appear to be any link to international terrorism.

The make of the bombs in Manhattan and New Jersey were different. Authorities said the Manhattan bombing and New Jersey pipe bomb did not appear to be connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out.

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Late Sunday, more suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. There turned out to be five devices in the bag. One of the devices exploded as a bomb squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate word on whether the devices were similar to those in nearby Seaside Park or New York City.

The Chelsea explosion left many distressed in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks only a week earlier.

By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.