NEW YORK — The news wires are abuzz with several violent ********* that happened over the weekend in the U.S., continuing to tarnish the country’s reputation as a safe destination for international travellers.

Authorities questioned several people early Monday after a car stop in New York City as they worked to determine whether there was a connection between several ********* devices found in two states in two days. An ********* rocked a bustling Manhattan neighbourhood Saturday night, and an unexploded pressure cooker device was found blocks away. There was also a pipe **** ***** earlier Saturday in a New Jersey shore town, and five ********* devices were found near a New Jersey train station late Sunday.

Furthermore, authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a potential act of *********, a finding that would realize long-held fears of an ****** in the *********-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of Saturday’s ***** that ******* 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood, said there didn’t appear to be any link to international *********.

Authorities said the Manhattan ******* and New Jersey pipe **** didn’t appear to be connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out. The pipe **** exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors. The race was cancelled and no one was *******.

Late Sunday, five suspicious devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said the devices were found in a bag in a trash can by two men who reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package. One of the devices exploded as a **** squad used a robot to try to disarm it. No ******** were reported.

The Chelsea ********* left many rattled in a city that had marked the 15th anniversary of the 9-11 ******* only a week earlier and that is scheduled to hold a United Nations meeting today to address the refugee ****** in Syria.

Witnesses described a deafening ***** that shattered storefront windows and ******* bystanders with shrapnel in the mostly residential neighbourhood on the city’s west side.

One New Yorker, Anthony Stanhope, was in his ********* when the ***** went off nearby. He said at first he thought it was thunder and lightning.

“Then all of a sudden, car horns went off, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this isn’t lightning. This is too loud,” Stanhope said. “This is a ****.”