New York police said Friday surveillance tapes from Midtown Manhattan showed at least three people were in the area of the British Consulate at the time of Thursday morning' s blasts, and asked these eye witnesses to come forward.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police so far still have no suspects and have not determined a motive, but he noted that images from 17 security cameras showed a female jogger, a bicyclist and a taxi in the area when two makeshift grenades went off.

"We just ask anyone with information who was in the vicinity ...you know, this is New York, and it's 3:30 in the morning, yet there were still people out on the street, so we ask anyone who was out there who has any information to come forward," Kelly said.

Kelly also said one tape has raised the possibility that one ofthe grenades may have been thrown from across the street and not placed in a planter as they first thought, but the police are enhancing the video for better clues.

The two clumsily converted grenades blew out a glass panel at the building's entrance, but caused no injuries. Police said the novelty grenades were filled with black gunpowder, fixed An Islamic extremist group claimed responsibility after the blast, but investigators are skeptical because the group's past claims have not been confirmed, according to some media reports.

Police are trying to determine if other tenants in the building besides the British consulate could have been targets.

Kelly noted that last month Jewish activists demonstrated against another tenant in the building, a board member of Caterpillar Inc., over the bulldozing of Palestinian homes. In response, a sponsor of the rally called Jewish Voice for Peace, said the group "only engages in nonviolent activities, period."

Earlier, a United Nations analyst from the Netherlands was detained for questioning after he allegedly ignored an officer's order to stay out of the crime scene. The man was later released.

The explosions went off just as Britons went to participate in a national election. But police said they could not establish at this stage any link between the election and the blasts.

Philip Thomas, the British counsul-general in New York, also said he could not speculate on "who this bomb was aimed at, whether it was us or someone else."

Source: Xinhua