Officials: Manhattan bombs designed to create maximum chaos, fatalities

FBI agents examine the scene of Saturday night's bombing in New York City.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The two bombs placed in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday night were designed to create "maximum chaos and fatalities," law enforcement officials told The New York Times.

One bomb exploded, injuring 29 people, while the other did not detonate. The officials said the bombs were filled with "fragmentation materials," including small bearings or metal BBs, and made with pressure cookers, flip phones, and Christmas lights. They also said tests showed that the explosive material in the bomb found on 23rd Street was similar to Tannerite, a commercially available compound. Authorities are still examining whether the bombs left in Manhattan were connected with three pipe bombs left inside a trash can in New Jersey earlier in the day; just one went off, and no one was injured.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.