New York, May 2: The police, tipped off by a street vendor, found and defused a car bomb inside a SUV, averting an “act of terrorism” that forced the evacuation of New York’s famed Times Square on Saturday and could have killed many people, the authorities said early on Sunday.

[The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the failed Times Square car bomb attack, AP reports from Cairo. A one-minute video allegedly released by the Pakistani Taliban claimed the attack was in revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of top Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq.]
Earlier, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg told a press conference “we have no idea who did this or why.” He said the failed bomb — made of propane, gasoline and fireworks — appeared to have been made in an amateurish manner.
Times Square is a popular destination in Manhattan’s Midtown, and was packed with tourists and theatregoers on a busy and warm Saturday night. Most of Times Square was reopened to vehicles and pedestrians  after 5 am on Sunday.
Mr Bloomberg said a T-shirt vendor noticed “an unoccupied suspicious vehicle” and alerted a police officer, who saw that the dark-green Nissan Pathfinder had smoke coming from vents near the back seat and smelled of gunpowder.     — Reuters