A suspicious vehicle with two gas canisters caused a brief scare near Union Square in New York on Thursday, forcing the police to clear several blocks, but they gave the 'all clear' after investigations, saying the vehicle had posed no danger.
"It's all clear," a New York police department spokesman said.
The two gasoline canisters in the back of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, a mid-sized car, was spotted by a Consolidated Edison employee at approximately 10.15 pm (local time), who called the police to report about the suspicious vehicle.
Several streets and a building around Union Square, an important and historic intersection in New York City, were evacuated and dozens of police and firemen roped off several portions of the area with yellow police tape. The incident comes just a fortnight after the failed Times Square car bombing, which the United States has blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.
Shahzad Faisal, a Pakistani who became a naturalised US citizen, was arrested for the failed plot.
The New York police left the scene after two hours, following an explanation by the car's owner, who owns a landscaping business that provides lawn mowing and other services, on why he had kept the gas canisters in the car.
"We contacted the owner and he gave us an explanation," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne was quoted as saying by local media.
Since the failed attempt on May 1, there have been several reports of suspicious vehicles and packages around the city that have turned out to be false alarms.
Times Square has already been evacuated three times since May 1. Browne said police evacuated the area as a precaution because the suspicious vehicle was parked in front of the headquarters of Con Edison, a major energy company.
Several floors of a high-rise residential building were evacuated and some streets in the area were blocked off as a precaution.
Union Square, located on Downtown Manhattan's East Side, is a major pedestrian and tourist thoroughfare. New York University, Greenwich Village, and the landmark Flatiron building are nearby.
The incident also came hours after President Barack Obama had left the city after a brief visit during which he met police officials to congratulate them on their counter-terrorism efforts.
Image: A member of the NYPD bomb unit investigates a suspicious vehicle in New York | Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters
