A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said.
Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said that the FBI was working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which two men discovered about 8:30 p.m. Sunday in a trash can near the Elizabeth train station on the Northeast Corridor rail line. The men had reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package, Bollwage said.
There was no immediate report of injuries or damage. A message left with the FBI wasn’t immediately returned. The mayor warned that other explosions were expected.
New Jersey Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and New Jersey-bound Amtraktrains were being held at New York’s Penn Station, officials said.
Riders reported being stuck on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains for hours Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations.
The discovery of the suspicious package came a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Also Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, N.J., forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5-kilometer run. Officials said it didn’t appear that those two incidents were related, though they weren’t’ ruling anything out.
