US detectives investigating the failed car bomb attempt in New York on Saturday night have said there is no evidence of a link to the Taliban or any other Islamist groups.
The city's Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, said a middle aged white man had been identified in video footage as a possible suspect.
He said the man was seen removing a dark shirt about half a block from where the vehicle was left with its engine running and hazard lights flashing.
New York police say they have ‘no evidence’ to support a claim of responsibility by the Pakistani Taliban for the attack.
The Taliban in Pakistan said it planted the bomb to avenge the killing in April of al-Qaeda's two top leaders in Iraq.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was no evidence of a link to al-Qaeda or any other militant organisation in the failed attack that prompted the evacuation of the teeming entertainment and shopping district.
‘It’s unfortunate that this happened. I'm confident that we will find out who did it,’ Mr Bloomberg told reporters outside a Times Square restaurant.
The US President Barack Obama has said the US security services and New York police will do ‘what is necessary’ to find the perpetrator.
‘We're going to do whatever is necessary to protect the American people, to determine who's behind this potentially deadly act and to see that justice is done,’ said Mr Obama.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called the scare a ‘potential terrorist attack’ but she and other officials held off saying whether there was a link to Islamist groups or to a domestic cause in the US.
