With no international terrorist group claiming responsibility for a powerful explosion in Manhattan that left dozens wounded, the authorities on Sunday were combing through surveillance videos, interviewing eyewitnesses and sifting through remnants of the bomb itself for clues into the attack.
Even as the last of the victims was released from the hospital, the New York Police Department, joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, mounted a large-scale hunt for the person or people behind the attack. Officials said they did not know of any motive — political or social.
The hunt for the culprit took on added urgency as leaders from around the world make their way to the city for the annual United Nation’s General Assembly this week.
At least 29 people were injured when a blast rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York on Sept. 17, 2016. Reportedly, the explosive device was in or near a dumpster in the area. City officials have yet to confirm the precise reason for the explosion. According to reports, another device, reported to be a pressure cooker with some wires coming out of the top, has been found at a second location near the explosion scene.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the powerful explosion that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday night, injuring 29 people, did not appear to be linked to international terrorism, but that it was a powerful bomb designed to kill.
“This is one of the nightmare scenarios,” he said at a news conference on Sunday. “We really were very lucky that there were no fatalities.”
Four blocks away from the blast site, the authorities found and removed what they described as a second device. Mr. Cuomo said the devices appeared to be similar in design and one federal law enforcement official who agreed to speak about the continuing investigation only on condition of anonymity described it as a “viable device” that failed to detonate.
The authorities were also looking into whether the New York explosion was connected to a blast that happened 11 hours earlier when an improvised device exploded in a garbage can near the course of a charity race that was about to start in a small town on the Jersey Shore. That device went off around 9:30 a.m. near the boardwalk in Seaside Park, N.J., according to the Ocean County sheriff, Michael G. Mastronardy. No one was injured. The race, the Seaside Semper Five, a five-kilometer run and charity event along the waterfront that raises money for members of the United States Marine Corps and their families, was canceled.
Officials declined to comment on why they seemed confident in ruling out a link to an international terrorist group but they noted that there had been no claim of responsibility from any terror network. In contrast, the Islamic State was quick on Sunday to claim a stabbing attack Saturday night at a Minnesota shopping mall that left nine people injured.
Mr. Cuomo said the explosion of the bomb in Manhattan — which was placed under a Dumpster made of heavy gauge steel — was so strong that it caused extensive property damage on both sides of the street, shattering windows up and down the block and sending shrapnel and debris flying. The mangled Dumpster remained roped off by crime-scene tape as store owners and residents slowly filtered back into the area.
The police were reviewing surveillance video and continued to scour the area for clues while trying to understand the choice of location for the bomb: Pointedly not Times Square, a commuter hub, train or landmark, which have been spectacular targets of terrorism in the past.
The nondescript area — a sidewalk, near some Dumpsters in a residential area of Chelsea — held its own significance.
“You’ve got to go somewhere,” said a New York law enforcement official who agreed to speak about the continuing investigation only on the condition of anonymity. “So the question is: Is the location significant, in terms of motive? And we don’t know that 23rd Street has any particular significance.”
Mr. Cuomo said that while “there is no evidence of an international terrorism connection with this incident,” it was still early in the investigation.
“Whoever placed these bombs,” the governor said, “we will find them and they will be brought to justice.”
Moments after the blast, the police swarmed Chelsea’s streets, which reverberated across a city scarred by terrorism and vigilant about threats, just days after the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
As the authorities sought to identify what had caused the explosion, they described the second device as a pressure cooker resembling the one used in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, according to the New York police official.
The explosion took place on a mild Saturday evening, drawing residents and tourists alike to the streets and the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood.
Witnesses said they could feel the explosion from several blocks away. Daniel Yount, 34, said he was standing on the roof of a building at 25th Street and Avenue of the Americas with friends.
The impact shattered windows, damaged cars and sent crowds running from the scene at an hour when Chelsea, always a popular destination, was filled with residents and tourists.
“We don’t understand the target or the significance of it,” the police official said. “It’s by a pile of Dumpsters on a random sidewalk.”
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