Incident Summary:
05/01/2010: On Saturday evening at approximately 1830, in New York City, New York, United States of America, a t-shirt vendor located between 45th Street and Seventh and Eighth Avenues noticed a dark-colored Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) parked at the curb with its engine running and its hazard lights on. Officer Wayne Rhatigan, a member of the New York Police Department's mounted division, was alerted by the vendor and then approached the vehicle and looked inside, where he spotted a box that was smoking and was able to smell gunpowder. The NYPD Bomb Squad was called to the scene, where they deployed a robotic device to break the SUV's back windows and to observe what was inside the vehicle. In the vehicle, police discovered the following: three 20-gallon propane canisters; two five-gallon cans of gasoline; 40+ consumer-grade M-88 firecrackers that had been placed inside of a 20-ounce metal container that had been wrapped in duct tape; a 55-inch by 32-inch green metal locker that contained eight plastic bags that held a total of approximately 250 pounds of Urea based fertilizer, a metal pressure cooker pot containing wires and an additional 120 M-88 firecrackers. The vehicle, a dark blue 1993 Nissan Pathfinder with tinted windows, had license plates that were registered to a Ford pickup truck that had been taken to a junkyard near Bridgeport, Connecticut some time during the last half of April (license plate: 98C Y09). Additionally, the vehicle identification number (VIN) had been removed from the SUV. No casualties were reported and no group immediately claimed responsibility. However, on 05/02/2010, the Taliban posted a video on YouTube claiming responsibility for the event, saying that it was revenge for the killing of Baitullah Mehsur, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri. The group did not make specific mention of the car bomb or New York City, so authorities doubt the authenticity of the Pakistani Taliban's involvement. On 06/22/2010, Faisal Shahzad, admitted all 10 charges against him in connection with a failed car-bomb claiming he was a Muslim soldier and warned the US to leave Muslim lands alone.
Overview
GTD ID:
201005010001
When:
2010-05-01
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
New York
City:
New York City
Location Details:
The attempted car-bombing attack occurred in the Times Square area, which is located in New York City, New York, United States. The vehicle was parked on 45th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
No |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
|
Specific Description |
The civilians of New York city |
Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Vehicle |
Weapon Details |
The following were intended for the attempted attack; three 20-gallon propane canisters; two five-gallon cans of gasoline; 40+ consumer-grade M-88 firecrackers that had been placed inside of a 20-ounce metal container; a 55-inch by 32-inch green metal locker that contained eight plastic bags that held a total of approximately 250 pounds of Urea based fertilizer and wires. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
New York Times, "Car Bomb Leads to Evacuation in Times Square," New York Times, May 2, 2010, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE2DC123CF931A35756C0A9669D8B63. |
Adrian Carrasquillo, "Pakistani Taliban Claims Responsibility, Reports Claim," Fox News, May 10, 2010, http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/nyc/pakistani-taliban-claims-responsibility-20100502-ac. |
BBC Monitoring, "Profile: Faisal Shahzad," BBC Monitoring, June 22, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8659766.stm. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties