New York bombing: Video shows same suspect ‘at both sites where pressure cooker devices found’

The footage has allowed police to identify a person of interest in relation to both devices

Adam Withnall
Monday 19 September 2016 10:32 BST
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(Getty Images)

Police have reportedly obtained videos showing the moment a suspect in the New York bombing on Saturday night left one of the pressure cooker devices on the street.

Surveillance video not only shows the suspect walking up and leaving a duffel bag at the scene where officers later found an unexploded bomb, but also that the same man was present on the street where the other bomb detonated, injuring 29 people.

The footage has allowed police to identify a person of interest in relation to both devices, according to CNN. It is unclear whether the suspect is related in any way to the five men who were detained by police after their SUV was stopped in Brooklyn.

Follow the latest updates on the New York bombing live here

And in a bizarre twist, the videos also show two other men approaching the duffel bag after it was left on 27th Street, four blocks from where the 23rd St bomb exploded.

CCTV captures moment of explosion in New York

CNN reports that the video shows the two men removing a white plastic bag containing the pressure cooker device from the duffel bag, before placing it on the ground and leaving the scene with the duffel bag.

An image posted to social media, showing the pressure cooker on the ground next to the white plastic bag, has been confirmed as genuine by police.

At this stage, it remains unclear whether the two other men are linked to the suspect who left the bag on the street in the first place. It is possible that they found the device and alerted police - officers have not confirmed whether or not they had a tip before finding the second bomb.

But the reports of the video add to evidence that the two devices, both consisting of pressure cookers filled with ball bearings and with flip phones and Christmas lights as detonators, are linked.

Meanwhile, a suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early on Monday morning as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said.

The FBI was working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which was discovered in a trash can by two men around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, near the Elizabeth train station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor rail line. The men had reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package, Bollwage said.

Also on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn't appear that incidents was connected to the Manhattan bombing, though they weren't ruling anything out.

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