U.S. & World

Times Square Blast Letters Claim: 'We Did It'

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― Authorities are investigating letters sent to Capitol Hill offices showing pictures of a Times Square military recruiting station that was bombed early Thursday morning, causing minor damage.

CBS News has learned that several members of Congress have received an identical 20-page letter, sent by U.S. mail, which contains a picture of the recruiting station. FBI and Capitol Police are examining the letters, but the contents apparently don't contain threats.

The federal lawmakers' offices received letters containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim "We Did It."

The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed. The photo was the kind commonly sent as a holiday greeting card, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The message on the card read "Happy New Year, We Did It."

The envelope also contained what seemed to be a political manifesto railing against the Iraq war and a booklet. A second aide said similar letters arrived in as many as 10 offices.

The man in the photo was described as thin, white with graying hair, wearing a striped flannel shirt and jeans.

The NYPD has also released footage from a private security camera showing a cyclist riding up to the recruiting station just before the bomb was detonated. After the bicyclist rides away at 3:40 a.m., a brief flash and a cloud of white smoke can be seen. The bike believed used in the crime was later found in the trash on West 38th Street.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said a witness, prior to the explosion, saw a man wearing a grey hoodie and a backpack riding a bicycle on the traffic island in a "suspicious" manner.

When an officer in a police substation next door to the recruitment office came out after the bombing, the witness provided a description of the man but had not seen the person's face.

The low-order explosive planted in an ammunition box went off at about 3:45 a.m., shattering the station's glass entryway. No one was injured.

No one was inside the station, where the Marines, Air Force and Navy also recruit.

Kelly described the explosive as "not a particularly sophisticated device."

Police blocked off the area to investigate. Forensic evidence collected at the scene is being sent to the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Va.

"The fact that this appears deliberately directed at the recruiting station insults every one of our brave men and women stationed around the world," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference in Times Square Thursday.

Witnesses staying at a Marriott hotel four blocks away said they could feel the building shake with the blast.

One person told CBS station WCBS-TV, "I heard this big bang. I thought it was thunder. I looked out the window, and didn't see any rain, I saw people running."

"It shook the building. I thought it could have been thunder, but I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke so I knew it was an explosion," said Terry Leighton, 48, of London, who was staying on the 21st floor of the Marriott.

Members of the police department's bomb squad and fire officials gathered outside the station in the early morning darkness, and police cars and yellow tape blocked drivers - most of them behind the wheels of taxicabs - from entering one of the world's busiest crossroads.

The police, which have drilled for this kind of event, cordoned off the area very quickly, but have since re-opened the streets to traffic.

Though subway cars passed through the Times Square station without stopping in the early hours of the investigation, normal service was soon restored, with some delays.

Bloomberg said that New Yorkers were not intimidated by the incident. "People are going about their business: shopping, working and sightseeing. They were not intimidated.

"New York City is back and open for business," he said.

Authorities are examining surveillance videos from the area, a process which will take several hours. They are also requesting any other witnesses or people with information to call the police hotline at (800) 577-TIPS.

The recruiting station, located on a traffic island surrounded by Broadway theaters and chain restaurants, has occasionally been the site of anti-war demonstrations, ranging from silent vigils to loud rallies.

In October 2005 a group of activists who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade rallied there against the Iraq war. Eighteen activists, most of them grandmothers with several in their 80s and 90s, were later acquitted of disorderly conduct.

The recruiting station was renovated in 1999 to better fit into the flashy ambiance of Times Square, using neon tubing to give the glass and steel office a patriotic American flag motif. For a half century, the station was the armed forces' busiest recruiting center. It has set national records for enlistment, averaging about 10,000 volunteers a year.

Police said it was too early to say if the blast may have been related to two other minor explosions in the city.

In October, two small explosive devices were tossed over a fence at the Mexican consulate, shattering three windows but causing no injuries. No threats had been made against the consulate, and no one took responsibility for the explosion, police said.

At the time, police said they were investigating whether it was connected to a similar incident at the British consulate on May 5, 2005.

In that incident, the explosions took place in the early morning hours, when Britons were going to the polls in an election that returned Prime Minister Tony Blair to power.

In both cases, the instruments were fake grenades sometimes sold as novelty items. They were packed with black power and detonated with fuses, but incapable of causing serious harm, police said.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)