Bomb Scare Shuts Down Times Square
NEW YORK -- Yesterday in a matter of hours it went from a bomb scare back to normal in Midtown Manhattan.
The cause was a suspicious suitcase discovered by police near 45th and Broadway -- not far from the location of last year's attempted Times Square car bomb attack.
The suitcase triggered a major police response as fresh terror jitters jangled New Yorkers' nerves. Streets were blocked and curious tourists and locals alike were pushed back by the hundreds for their own safety .
All this unfolded on the same day a new threat against America emerged from deep within Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden may be dead courtesy of US soldiers -- but he is not forgotten.
According to multiple media reports his most radical followers right now are plotting revenge -- today threatening new attacks against 10 unspecified American and European targets.
The threat reportedly comes from deputy Pakistani Taliban leader Wali-ur-Rehman of the group TTP -- a suspected Al-Qaeda associate. He already has a $5 million US bounty on his head and helps lead the same group that claimed responsibility for the failed car bomb attack in Times Square last year.
Wali-ur-Rehman is wanted in connection with suspected involvement in the murder of seven American citizens in Afghanistan in 2009.
Putting these new developments into context some analysts see a power struggle to fill Bin Laden's shoes with the winner the anti-western terrorist who can pull off the next spectacular attack.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service