IANS
New York
A vehicle packed with explosives detonated on Christmas morning in the US city of Nashville after running an eerie countdown on a loudspeaker interspersed with appeals to people to clear
the area.
As of Friday night, officials did not announce any arrest or give a likely motive behind the explosion of the recreational vehicle (RV), or motor home, that damaged several buildings and interrupted telecommunications leading to the temporary shutdown of the local airport’s operations.
Initially officials said that there were no deaths, but later Police Chief John Drake said that some material that could be human remains were found near the RV and were being tested for confirmation.
Three people were injured by the explosion and hospitalised.
Casualties were limited because of the warning to evacuate and because of early morning on a holiday.
Officials euphemistically described the incident as an “intentional act”, avoiding the terrorism label although explosion had its hallmarks.
Mayor John Cooper, who imposed a curfew in the area, would only go as far as saying that there was evidence that a “deliberate bomb was set off”.
Police were called to the place where the RV was parked by reports of gunfire and when they arrived there, they heard a loudspeaker blaring a warning asking residents to leave the area because there was a bomb, according
to Drake.
In a Nashville Channel 5 TV broadcast of the recording, a voice that sounded like that of a woman repeated with an undistinguished American accent in a monotone ch aracteristic of public announcements like, “this area must be evacuated now” and “if you can hear this message evacuate now” interspersed with a countdown.
The serious disruption from the explosion came from damage to an AT&T telecommunication facility in front of which the RV was parked.
As a result, emergency and police phone lines went down for a while and the flights were grounded at the local airport.
One building had collapsed according to officials.
Cooper said that about 40 businesses in the area were affected.
White House Deputy Spokesperson Judd Deere said that President Donald Trump, who is holidaying in Florida, had been briefed about the explosion and that he was grateful to the work of the first responders.
