Did South Park Spark Times Square Bomb Scare?
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) The head of homeland security said Monday that investigators haven't ruled out any suspects, including foreign terrorist organizations, in the case of the unexploded car bomb that was parked in New York City's Times Square on Saturday night.
PICTURES: Times Square Car Bomb
But there has been speculation that because the SUV was parked near the headquarters of Viacom, the attack might have been related to a controversial "South Park" episode that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad dressed in a bear costume.
After "South Park" aired one of two controversial episodes featuring Mohammad, a group called RevolutionMuslim.com warned the cartoon's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, that they could face violent retribution.
The site featured a post directed at Parker and Stone claiming they "outright insulted" the religious leader.
The post showed a gruesome picture of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was shot and stabbed to death in an Amsterdam street in 2004 by a fanatic angered by Van Gogh's film about Muslim women.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," the post read. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
A very different group, the Pakistani Taliban, appeared to claim responsibility for the car bomb in three videos that surfaced over the weekend, but New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said police have no evidence to support those claims. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that "there is no evidence tied to international terrorism."
But Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called it "premature to rule in or rule out" any suspects.
She praised New York street vendors who alerted police to the suspicious vehicle, telling CBS News' "The Early Show" that the incident is a reminder that "everybody needs to be and is a part of the process of being watchful, of being vigilant."
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