by Sewell Chan
New York City police officers and firefighters cordoned off much of Times Square after a small explosion - possibly set off by a human-made device - damaged the front of the Armed Forces Recruiting Station on the traffic island bounded by 43rd and 44th Streets, Seventh Avenue and Broadway around 4 a.m. No one was injured, officials said.
City officials confirmed that the explosion occurred and that police had cordoned off the area as a precaution to ensure that there was no secondary device; the official emphasized that there was no reason to believe that any additional devices had been planted.
The explosion briefly disrupted the vital transit node at Times Square, but full subway service had been restored as of 5:39 a.m. Nearly a dozen subway lines - the A, C, E, N, R, W, S and Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 7 - run through Times Square. Subway service on those lines - along with the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 lines, which run through Grand Central Terminal - had been suspended initially. The recruiting station sits almost directly on top of the S, also known as the 42nd Street shuttle, which connects Times Square with Grand Central Terminal.
Police officers at the scene said Times Square was closed and were turning people and cars back.
At 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, a large police van and a police vehicle with lights flashing was parked. Police cordoned off much of 41st Street, Seventh Avenue and the subway station entrances. Police officers turning pedestrians away, and a woman who was trying to jog through.
"It happened 2 hours ago," said one officer at the scene, describing the situation as "very fluid"
Traffic was being diverted away even to the west, at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street, where a large police vehicle blocked the avenue and traffic was being diverted through the Port Authority bus terminal. Cars were backed up on Eighth Avenue, with some drivers honking angrily.
The recruiting station has been the site of regular antiwar protests since the start of the Iraq war in 2003. The station reopened in 1999 after a redesign by Stephen Cassell and Adam Yarinsky. The 520-square-foot building is decorated with 33-by-14-foot flags rendered in fluorescent lights. The interior contains space for Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine recruiters and one bathroom.
Graham Bowley contributed reporting
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