New York Port Authority Attack: Man Held After Manhattan Blast

A man is being held after an attempted terror attack at New York City’s main bus terminal, officials say.

“Terrorists won’t win,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said after a blast at the Port Authority terminal in Manhattan during the morning rush hour on Monday.

The suspect, named as Akayed Ullah, 27, was wounded when a “low-tech explosive device” strapped to his body blew up in an underpass, officials say.

They say three other people suffered minor injuries.

A photo circulating on social media shows a man, said to be the suspect, lying on the ground with his clothes ripped and lacerations on his upper body.

Mayor De Blasio said he was believed to have acted alone.

Media captionNYC police commissioner: ‘Suspect has burns and wounds to body’

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: “This is New York. The reality is that we are a target by many who would like to make a statement against democracy, against freedom.

“We have the Statue of Liberty in our harbour and that makes us an international target.”

The explosion occurred at about 07:30 (12:30 GMT). Andre Rodriguez, 62, told the New York Times: “I was going through the turnstile. It sounded like an explosion, and everybody started running.”

Another eyewitness, Alicja Wlodkowski, told Reuters news agency that she had seen a group of about 60 people running. “A woman fell. And nobody even went to stop and help her because the panic was so scary,” she said.

Nearby subway stations were evacuated, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal shut down.

It is the biggest and busiest bus terminal in the world, serving more than 65 million people a year.

Image captionSeveral blocks of the city have been cordoned off

Courtesy : BBC