Times Square bomb: low-tech, but potentially deadly

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday that the bomb found in an S.U.V. Saturday evening in Times Square was amateurish and flawed, but could have been deadly.

The device consisted of three grill-size propane canisters, two cans of gasoline, two battery-operated alarm clocks and a New York gun box containing eight bags of what the police have identified as nonexplosive fertilizer.

Commissioner Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg said that there was no evidence that the failed bombing is linked to al-Qaida or any other large terrorist organization, despite the Pakistani Taliban having claimed responsibility.

WNYC’s Bob Hennelly gives us the latest on the police investigation. We also talk to Lydia Khalil, former counterterrorism analyst with the NYPD.

Below: NYPD surveillance video from Times Square