New York explosion leaves dozens injured

None of those 25 people has life-threatening injuries, according to a tweet from the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau, CNN reports.

Gas has been ruled out as the cause of the explosion, a law enforcement source said.

Officials are still trying to assess what caused explosion, the source said. No secondary device was located.

The preliminary belief of investigators is that the blast was caused by an explosive device in or near a dumpster, a law enforcement source told CNN. The source stressed this is preliminary and is not conclusive.

Police have increased security across New York City as a precaution, a law enforcement source told CNN.

The area of the explosion is packed with restaurants, subway stations, shops, businesses and art galleries. People living in buildings near the affected area are not being allowed in, CNN's Bernadette Tuazon reported from the scene.

President Obama has been briefed on the explosion, according to a White House official. The President will be updated as additional information becomes available, the official told journalists.

An eyewitness told CNN affiliate NY1 he was having dinner when an explosion rocked the area.

"[I] felt a loud explosion and I felt like a lightning bolt struck the building. It, like, shook the ground," he told NY1. "Everybody ran out of the restaurant into the street. The whole city was in the street."

He says the response by police who swarmed the area was "aggressive" but "controlled."

The man told NY1 he lives in the neighborhood and knows it well.

"I walk down the street every day. ... This is my main thoroughfare. I'm either in an Uber, a cab, or on foot on this street all the time. This is my neighborhood. This isn't a tourist attraction. It's just the middle of the city. It does frighten me."

Some social media users said the sound of the explosion was heard as far away as Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Chelsea.
The fire department said the explosion happened at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

Source: CNN