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Explosion at NJ train station as FBI investigates suspected pipe bombs Bomb blast at New Jersey train station as robot tries to disarm device
(about 5 hours later)
An explosion occurred at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after a suspicious backpack was found. The detonation was not controlled, the city's mayor said. Meanwhile, the FBI has questioned five people in connection with Saturday’s Manhattan blast. An explosive device blew up near a railway station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, as a robot was trying to disarm it. It was one of at least five bombs found in a backpack. There have been no reports of any injuries, the local mayor confirmed.
Elizabeth's mayor, Christian Bollwage, said the blast occurred when authorities were trying to "disarm" the backpack, and that the explosion was not controlled. The incident took place at 12.30am (4:30 GMT) in the city of Elizabeth, which is south of Newark. The devices had been placed in a trash can near the train station, the city’s mayor, Christian Bollwage, said. 
READ MORE: ‘That was real!’ Suspected pipe bomb explodes at NJ train station (VIDEOS) "I can imagine that if all five of them went off at the same time that the loss of life could have been enormous if there was an event going on,” Bollwage commented.
"This was an explosive device" containing as many as five devices, Bollwage said. "Based on the loudness, I think people could have been severely hurt or injured if they had been in the vicinity." The backpack was discovered by two scavengers who were rummaging through trash. After spotting "wires and a pipe," they reported the find to the police, around four hours before the explosion took place. 
A law enforcement official confirmed the bag contained pipe bombs, The New York Times reported. Bollwage said he did not believe the two people were involved. "We believe they did the right thing,” he told NBC New York. 
Journalist Andy Mai from the New York Daily News reported that there will be no more detonations, and the remaining four devices will be taken to Middlesex Fire Academy and picked up by the FBI.  A bomb disposal team was called in to deal with the suspect package and there was an explosion as a robot cut a wire on the mechanism. 
The bag was discovered in the area of North Broad and Westfield Avenue, CBS local reported, adding that local businesses have been ordered to evacuate. Train services were halted following the blast, but New Jersey Transit has resumed operations, while the area at downtown Elizabeth has been cleared, the FBI tweeted. 
Bollwage told reporters that at around 9:30pm on Sunday two men “noticed a package in the waste basket.” The men then took the package from the bin, thinking “it was of value to them” before they saw “wires and a pipe." They then proceeded to “drop the package” and notified the local police headquarters. Police have not made any arrests in connection to the incident. A car was stopped in Brooklyn and five men were questioned by the FBI, but no one was detained. 
"We do not believe those two are involved," Bollwage told NBC New York. "We believe they did the right thing." “We conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in New York City but no arrests were made and no one has been charged with any crime,” FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser told Reuters. 
Police then called a bomb squad who sent a drone to examine the package further. Bomb technicians also deployed a robot to the scene.  Hours later, FBI agents and police congregated at an apartment near the Elizabeth train station. However, it is unknown if there is a connection between the address and the blast, AP reports. 
Authorities at the scene are conducting a “secondary search” of waste bins for other possible threats, Bollwage added. The city of Elizabeth is around 24km (15 miles) from Manhattan, where a bomb exploded less than 24 hours earlier, injuring 29 people. Another bomb also went off in New Jersey on Saturday. 
All Amtrak and local trains bound for New Jersey were halted during the investigation. On Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that an extra 1,000 state police officers and National Guard servicemen would be deployed to monitor bus terminals, airports and subway stations. 
Authorities are now "rendering the area safe," the FBI's New York bureau tweeted. Bollwage said it was too early to say whether Elizabeth, which has a population of around 130,000, was deliberately targeted or whether the backpack may have been deliberately discarded in order to try and throw investigators.
The device found in Elizabeth appears similar to a device that exploded Saturday morning in Seaside Park, NJ, according to senior law enforcement officials cited by NBC. A massive investigation is underway looking for possible links between the five improvised explosive devices (IED) that were discovered in New York City and those in New Jersey. 
Meanwhile, sources told the New York Post that five men were reportedly taken in for questioning by the FBI after agents pulled over their car in Brooklyn. Those detained were reportedly heading over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn. NYPD officers assisted federal agents at the scene, NBC reported. Initially, an explosion in a garbage container near a Marine Corps charity run in New Jersey took place on Saturday morning.  
Although the FBI clarified that it conducted a traffic stop, it said that no arrests were made or charges brought about in connection with the explosion that rocked New York on Saturday, stating that earlier media reports were inaccurate. No injuries were reported but the partial blast delayed the start of the race in which more than 5,000 runners participated. Later, investigators in New Jersey discovered three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together near the boardwalk. 
“We conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in New York City but no arrests were made and no one has been charged with any crime,” FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser told Reuters. On Saturday evening, a second bomb exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, injuring 29 people, all of whom have been released from the hospital after receiving medical treatment. The blast was called “an act of terrorism” by Governor Cuomo.
The surrounding area of New York City remains on high alert after two bombs went off, firstly in New Jersey and later in Manhattan, on Saturday. Earlier on Sunday, NY governor Andrew Cuomo announced the deployment of close to 1,000 state police officers and National Guard servicemen to monitor bus terminals, airports, and subway stations.