Explosion Hits Times Square Recruiting Office

Police are investigating an explosion that shattered the entrance to an Army recruitment office in Times Square early this morning, the AP reports. No one was injured, but police cordoned off the area, and prevented subway trains from stopping in the square briefly. “I was up on the 44th floor and I could feel it,” said a guest at a hotel four blocks away. “It was a big bang.”

No one was inside the recruitment office, which has often been the target of anti-war demonstrations. “If it is something that's directed toward American troops then it's something that's taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate,” said one Army captain. One of the armed forces' busiest recruiting stations, it attracts an average of 10,000 recruits a year, AP reports. (More New York City stories.)