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New York bomb squad investigates an explosion, outside the U.S. Armed Forces Career Centre in New York's Time Square area. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - US OFFICIALS are investigating a possible link between a Canadian border crossing incident and the bombing of the US military recruiting post in Times Square, New York's police chief said on Friday.
'It's being looked into by federal officials. That stop did take place in Canada. Some pictures of Times Square, including the recruiting station were found,' police chief Ray Kelly told CNN television.
Quoting an unidentified source, CNN said at least three people were stopped at a border crossing 'about a month ago' for questioning, after which one left behind a backpack with a picture of Times Square inside.
Neither the people reportedly questioned nor the crossing point were identified.
Mr Kelly said: 'Our teams of detectives that go around and talk to businesses did go out and speak to the people in the recruiting station and told them about the fact that these pictures were found.'
'So federal officials are going back to take another look and attempting to speak to Canadian officials about that stop,' he said, adding that the New York Police Department's liaison officer in Montreal has been notified as well.
The small explosion struck the US Armed Forces Career Center - a fixture in Times Square for decades - in the early hours of Thursday, causing minor damage and disruption but no injuries.
It occurred shortly before 4 am (0900 GMT), shattering windows and buckling the door of the small glass booth - exposing a familiar World War I recruitment poster featuring Uncle Sam and the words 'I Want You For US Army'.
The explosion sparked an immediate and large police response - a legacy of the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center that left New York on a constant and heightened state of alert.
On Thursday, Mr Kelly said the blast was the result of an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.
The Department of Homeland Security said there was no information to suggest an imminent threat to the United States, while the White House said the explosion 'doesn't appear to be terrorism'.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said New York would not be intimidated.
'The fact that this appears deliberately directed at the recruiting station insults every one of our brave men and women in uniform stationed around the world fighting to defend our freedoms,' he told reporters.
Several US lawmakers were mailed a letter and a photograph of a New York City military recruiting station before the incident, media reports said, but Mr Kelly said on Friday the FBI had concluded that there was no link. -- AFP
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