The New York police department said “one male suspect” was injured and in custody after an explosion on the subway at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. A total of four injuries were confirmed by the New York fire department. None of the injuries were life-threatening, it said. A law enforcement official, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press the explosion happened at about 7.30am. The person arrested had a pipe bomb strapped to him when it went off on a subway platform, the official said.

In midtown, shortly after the explosion, sirens could heard racing up 8th Avenue. A commuter who travelled through the Port Authority terminal at 42nd and 8th told the Guardian the explosion happened 60 seconds after they exited the building. A police officer told the commuter it was “a guy with a pipe-bomb”.

At the scene, Lythia, who did not wish to give her full name, said she was handing out the Metro free newspaper at the corner of 40th Street and 8th Avenue at about 7.30am when she saw “people running towards me saying it was an explosion, it was a bomb”.

“Everybody was just running. Then I saw the cops, the fire department, the ambulance, the bomb squad. She added: “If I was scared I’d have been running too. I felt like an angel was protecting me.”(theguardian)…[+]