The British Consulate in New York has been the target of a terrorist attack. The attack comes on the same day that Brittons go to the polls to elect a new governmnet and as the world pauses to remember the terrorism that was the Nazi regime on Holocaust Memorial Day.

This post will be updated throughout the day. Developing.......

Another UPDATE: Our man on the streets is at the scene and reports this:

Walked over to see the "bomb" damage. What a crock. A couple windows
popped. Whoopdidoooooo. All the news pimps are there with Grim faces.
There is a guy from fox news who must be, a midget. He was standing on
a video crate. Ran into Ellis Hennigan from the daily news. Guy looks
like he weighs 50 pounds. What a pussy.

This was no terrorist. This was some idiot slob from the UN.

I would disagree with our crack reporter only on one count. A terrorist does not necessarily have to belong to a terrorist organization. Probably the work of a lone nutjob, but a lone nutjob inspired by jihadi ideology and using terror to attempt to affect the outcome of the British election is a terrorist nontetheless.

UPDATE: If we're looking for suspects I'd suggest starting to look at The Islamic Thinkers Society of New York, which seems to be connected to the global al Muhajiroun movement. Not coincidentally, al Muhajiroun is led by Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammad who makes London his home base for calling for global jihad--even against the U.K. The group also is suspected of having loose ties to al Qaeda.

These people have the balls to set up protest in New York and their members have been recorded as saying, "Next time we will get all of New York City."

Their members are just crazy enough to believe the bullshit spouted by their salafist leaders and just dumb enough to think these bombs might send some sort of scary message to the British people.

Ed Moltzen and He Who Will Not Be Named remind us that the IRA are also suspects in this thing. The latter notes that today marks the 20th anniversary of the hunger-strike death of Bobby Sands. Nothing is impossible....but, come on.....has the IRA ever attacked on U.S. soil?? UPDATE within and UPDATE: T.C. Leather Penguin also suspects the Irish. I can't argue with that logic.....

UPDATE: Can I just remind everyone that a bomb is a bomb is a bomb, so the fact that whoever did this used toy grenades for the bomb-casing is sort of irrelevant. It may be relevant that the bombs were small, but not that they were 'toys'.

Reuters:

Two small pre-dawn blasts shattered windows at the British consulate Thursday as voters in Britain went to the polls in a general election, police said. There were no injuries reported.

The explosions occurred shortly before 4 a.m./0800 GMT and were caused by two primitive metal "novelty grenades," one in the shape of a pineapple, the other a lemon, both packed with gunpowder, police on the scene said.

"There were some shattered windows and there are no injuries. We are investigating it," a New York Police Department spokesman said in an interview.

The incident, which briefly upset British financial markets, occurred as polls in Britain were opening but police said it was not known whether the blasts was connected to the consulate. Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a third term in office after a short campaign where he battled public anger against his support of the war in Iraq.

Detective Noel Waters said the explosion was caused by "two small improvised explosive devices" in or near a large concrete flower box -- typically used in New York to prevent vehicles from driving into buildings.

"It sounded like thunder -- two loud bangs," one witness told WINS radio.

There was minimal damage to the building, with only a door, window and a nearby car damaged, police said.

New York has remained on high alert since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers.

Asked whether the police had ruled out terrorism in Thursday's incident, Waters said only, "We have not ruled out anything at this point."

Police at the scene said no arrests had been made.

Authorities blocked off the area, just a few blocks from the United Nations. The building is located at 845 Third Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets.

British voters have been warned that Britain and its interests could be targeted by terrorists during the election campaign.

Dude, those toy grenades went off 3 blocks from my office. Holy Crap!

I love this headline from The Scotsman: No Motive for New York Explosions. Right.

Dr. James Joyner seems to think the amateurish nature of the grenades points away from professionals. I concur.

John Little posts this link to the British Consulate, New York. No official word yet.

Michelle Malkin points us to USS Neverdock who links to this Telegraph article about al Qaeda sleeper cells in the U.S. I would simply point out that this bombing bears none of the classic al Qaeda markers.

Ok, now Michelle Malkin and GOP and the City are putting forth the notion that this might be a 'test run' for something larger. While we can't rule anything out, I hightly doubt it.

Idiotarian quote of the day from U.K. Today (via Scared Monkey's): "How convenient for Tony Blair that there should be a potential bomb explosion on election day."

Others: Interested Participant, Command Post, check out the fatwas issued below for others.....

Posted by: Rusty at 08:13 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 960 words, total size 7 kb.

1 Bet it was Greg. Freakin Hitler

Posted by: Filthy Allah at May 05, 2005 08:28 AM (yBHNA)

2 Just to clairify. Thanks to Michelle for the link but my post had nothing to do with the NY bomb. My post was concerned with the Libbi capture and his connection to sleeper cells in the US and UK. I agree this doesn't seem like the work of al Qaeda per se but maybe a like minded group. Here is a report by UTV listing the series of UK diplomatic attacks over the last few years. http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=59882&pt=n Cheers, Marc

Posted by: marc at May 05, 2005 09:04 AM (cEPYb)

3 It' seems odd that the attack was done in New York City. Why not London? I suppose one kills two birds with one stone by attacking British interests in America. Consequence:This attack will likely benefit Blair and his party in the forthcoming election.

Posted by: greg at May 05, 2005 09:12 AM (/+dAV)

4 Yikes! My high school used to be on 51st and Lex.

Posted by: Laura at May 05, 2005 09:14 AM (L3PPO)

5 You tell us Hitler- Why did you do it?

Posted by: Filthy Allah at May 05, 2005 09:31 AM (yBHNA)

6 Your "Idoitarian Quote" - ""How convenient for Tony Blair that there should be a potential bomb explosion on election day."" falls right in line with the idiot who said Karl Rove got OBL to make a video just in time to help get Bush elected. These guys are like clones. And notice how they said "potential" bomb explosion? WTF?

Posted by: Oyster at May 05, 2005 11:23 AM (fl6E1)

7 Sheesh, you folks suffered a total irony failure, or perhaps the subtle nuances of English aren't your forte . Still, if you'd quoted in context it wouldn't have read so idiotarian, would it? For those who can't be bothered to check the post quoted, it said: Here's one for the conspiracy theorists out there. How convenient for Tony Blair that there should be a potential bomb explosion on election day. Enjoy.

Posted by: balders at May 05, 2005 12:19 PM (QOcUX)

8 I'm willing to lay money on it being some spoiled brat fascist/commie ANSWER snot who wants to try to do to the British what Al Qaeda did to Spain. Funny thing about the British though, you bloody their nose, and they split your skull. In the words of the Queen; "Up with this we shall not put..."

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at May 05, 2005 12:24 PM (0yYS2)

9 obviously the work of the Bushitler cabal.

Posted by: Carlos at May 05, 2005 01:28 PM (tFXpR)

10 These people showing their desperation. We are not Spanish. We are a completely different species. We do not get intimidated by anyone. In fact, I would suggest that what happened in Madrid (Spain) were to happen here in Britain, we would go the opposite way to the Spanish. We are British. We have backbone. We are not cheese eating surrender monkeys, (AKA) French. We do not bow to no terrorist's. We coped with the evil IRA for over 30 years. We did not bow then and we certainly won't now. We are not Europeans. We are British. Rule Britania,God save my Queen. And to our American brother's and sisters. We stand "shoulder to shoulder" We are winning. God bless your amazing country.

Posted by: Pete uk at May 05, 2005 03:45 PM (PM/BC)

11 Local radio is now reporting (your gonna love this) that NYPD has taken into custody a guy who works for the UN.

Posted by: TC-LeatherPenguin at May 05, 2005 04:26 PM (kiH79)

12 Pete uk: I pray that you're right. Blair is a good man--I'm glad people are still backing him. But hey, you guys eat cheese, too. (Had to say that, as I'm part French.)

Posted by: Young Bourbon Professional at May 05, 2005 04:31 PM (iBKJj)

13 Here's the details: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-blast0506.story?page=1

Posted by: TC-LeatherPenguin at May 05, 2005 04:40 PM (kiH79)

14 Kashmir Terrorists are using Maps ,Data and stuff from servey of India's archives.The Same may be for the U.S too.And bio labs in east asian countries are very accisible. *Can you start a thread on this

Posted by: Monzter at May 06, 2005 06:54 AM (rA3Xj)

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