Blast hits UK consulate

Two small makeshift grenades exploded in a concrete planter outside an office building in New York housing the British consulate early yesterday. The blast caused minor damage and no injuries.

Two small makeshift grenades exploded in a concrete planter outside an office building in New York housing the British consulate early yesterday. The blast caused minor damage and no injuries.

The FBI and police were questioning a Dutch analyst for the United Nations who lives near by and lingered near the building in Manhattan after the blasts, refusing orders to leave the scene. The man had worked in a unit analysing Iraq's weapons programmes.

The devices were replica grenades, sold as novelties, filled with gunpowder and lit with a fuse.