FBI quiz students over Yale blast

FBI agents were questioning students at the prestigious Yale University law school today, after an explosive device went off in an empty classroom.

Last night’s blast sent debris flying and students scrambling for safety, but no injuries were reported and the damage was said to be minor at the Ivy League university’s law school in New Haven, Connecticut.

“We understand there was a device and it went off,” Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart said. Authorities said it might take two or three days to find out what type of device was used.

The law school also houses a day care centre and some residences, but it was not clear whether any children or residents were inside at the time. The law school is holding final exams through tomorrow, and officials said tests were given in the building earlier yesterday.

There were no initial indications that an international terrorist organisation set off the device, according to two US officials familiar with intelligence information.

“We have not received any threats prior to the incident today, and we’ve received no claims of responsibility,” said Michael Wolf, special agent in charge of the FBI in Connecticut, yesterday.

Acting Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the explosion was being treated as a criminal matter, but no possibility had been ruled out. He said damage was limited to the ceiling and a partition in the classroom.

Some students who were in the building when the device went off said they were being called for questioning by the FBI. Sniffer dogs were being used to check the law school and other buildings, the New Haven Register reported.

The explosion happened at about 5pm (10pm Irish time), sending smoke rising above downtown New Haven.

“I saw a huge fireball come out to the middle of the hallway,” said law student Bob Hoo, who was on the ground floor of school. “It was there and then it was gone.”

The university said the law school would be closed today and tomorrow and its commencement, scheduled for Monday, would probably be moved to another building.

The incident came a day after the US government raised the alert level for possible terrorist attacks and several hours after President George Bush spoke at the Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in New London, 50 miles away.

Yale is Bush’s alma mater and one of his daughters, Barbara, is finishing her junior year at the university. Secret Service spokesman John Gill said the younger Bush ”was not in danger at any time, and she was not in the vicinity” of the blast.

In 1993, a bomb exploded in the Yale office of a professor, seriously injuring him.

Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to prison for that attack and others that killed three people and injured more than 20 from 1978 to 1995.