FBI questions UN employee over British Consulate bombing

FBI and police were questioning a UN employee yesterday after two makeshift grenades exploded outside a building housing the British Consulate in New York.

Fri, 06 May, 2005 - 01:00

Officials stressed it was not clear whether the consulate itself had been targeted in the attack, which caused slight damage but injured no one.

The midtown Manhattan office building houses a variety of domestic and foreign companies.

“We do not at this point have any idea who did it or a motive,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, adding the explosion was caused by “a relatively unsophisticated explosive device”.

There were no threats or phone calls, he said.

The FBI and police were questioning a UN employee from the Netherlands who was found loitering near the building shortly after the explosion, law enforcement sources said. The sources would not say whether or not the man was a suspect.

The grenades had been placed inside a concrete flower box outside the front door of the building.

After piecing together the shrapnel, police determined the devices were toy grenades that had been filled with gunpowder. Officers estimated that one was the size of a pineapple; the other the size of a lemon.

No timing device was used, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

The blasts, which Mr Kelly said happened around 3.35am (8.35am Irish time) shattered a panel of glass in the building’s front door and ripped a 30-centimetre chunk from the concrete.

“I heard a bang, that’s it,” said witness Ferdinand Pretd. “I came outside to check it out and I see nothing around, no flames, no smoke and that’s it.”

The British consulate is on the ninth and 10th floors of the building.

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman, asked whether British authorities believed the blast was terrorism-related, said: “Investigations are ongoing. We’re not speculating about whether it’s connected to the election.”

British consul-general Philip Thomas said he was not frightened by the attack and planned to open the office and host an election night party as planned.