New York Police Quiz Man Over Uk Consulate Blasts

Police were questioning a man tonight about the two bombs that exploded outside the British consulate in New York earlier today.

A New York police department spokesperson said the man had been found "loitering" in the area at the time of the attack. It is believed he is a Dutch citizen who works as an analyst for the United Nations, although police refused to confirm such reports.

"He is not being treated as a suspect at this stage," the spokesperson said. "It could be that he just happened to be in the area."

The makeshift grenades detonated within seconds of each other before dawn, sparking fears of a terror campaign as voters streamed to the polls in the UK.

The unsophisticated devices were planted in a concrete flowerbox directly outside the Manhattan building. They exploded at 3.35am (0835 BST), blowing a chunk of concrete through the front door and shattering a panel of glass. No one was injured.

More than 10 hours after the attack, police said they had still not determined who was responsible or what, if anything, was the motive. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, said it should not be assumed that the British offices, occupying the ninth and tenth floors of the building, were the target of the attack.

"There is no reason to jump to the conclusion that any one floor of that building was a target," he said. "We have no idea who did this or what the motive was but eventually we will find them and apprehend them."

FBI officials, forensic experts, bomb squads and sniffer dogs flooded the scene as dawn broke, and helicopters hovering overhead. The immediate area, which is a stone's throw from the UN headquarters, was blocked off and ringed with police tape as intelligence agents launched an investigation. Several other diplomatic offices were swept for devices as a precaution.

The British consul-general, Sir Philip Thomas, who spoke to detectives at the scene, said he was not frightened by the attack and planned to open the office and host an election night party as planned.

"I can't speculate about who this bomb might have been aimed at, whether it was us or someone else," he said. "We are following the advice of the NYPD and want to get back to work as quickly as possible."

Security was immediately beefed up at potential British targets across the US. The consulate in Chicago was cordoned off for some 30 minutes following the explosions in New York as security checks were carried out. Security officials also ringed the British consulate in Washington.

Other buildings, including the official residence of the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, were also understood to have also been sealed off.

British sources said an explosion at one of their own buildings on election day guaranteed that they were keeping a very keen interest on things. After piecing together pieces of shrapnel, police said the two grenades were unsophisticated, "novelty" devices packed with black powder and a fuse.

One was the shape of a lemon and the other a pineapple, an NYPD spokesman said, adding that similar items could be purchased in toyshops.

The New York police commissioner, Ray Kelly, said no timing device was used and the "relatively unsophisticated" charges appeared to have been lit by hand.

He said it had been a "fairly powerful force" and that if anybody had been in the vicinity they would have been seriously injured.

Surveillance footage taken from neighbouring buildings was being studied in an attempt to track those responsible.