Time Warner Center evacuated after suspicious packages discovered a day after CNN bomb threat

After a search by New York police bomb squad the packages are deemed safe

Crowds begin to evacuate from the Time Warner Center in New York amid reports of two suspicious packages (REUTERS)

Police in New York evacuated part of the Time Warner Center, where CNN's offices are located, after two suspicious packages were discovered.

The bomb squad reported to a suspicious package on the third floor, and they evacuated that floor and the second floor. The incident comes just one day after a bomb was sent to CNN, addressed to former CIA director John Brennan.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) tweeted: "As a precaution, the NYPD is currently evaluating a pair of unattended packages at the Time Warner Center Mall, Columbus Circle in Manhattan."

NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald later tweeted the bomb squad had declared “all clear” on the packages. The mall on those floors was being re-opened, he tweeted. The NYPD also tweeted "no hazardous items found."

The building houses a number of shops and restaurants and the first floor remains open while investigations continue.

The discovery comes amid heightened fears across the US after 10 suspicious packages were sent to high-profile Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump.

Earlier on Thursday, former vie president Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro became the latest high-profile targets to be sent packages, which investigators say matched parcels which contained pipe bombs sent to former president Barack Obama and several other Democrats.