NEW YORK (AP) — Police evacuated buildings and cleared streets of thousands of tourists around New York City’s Times Square on Saturday after finding an apparent car bomb in a parked SUV.

New York City police said a mounted police officer noticed smoke coming from the SUV at 6:30 p.m. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that bomb investigators found propane tanks, powder and an apparent timing device inside the vehicle. The official wasn’t authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Times Square, known as the Crossroads of the World, is one of the busiest urban areas in the U.S. and is typically teeming with people.

Police evacuated several residential and commercial buildings and cleared several streets of thousands of tourists milling around on a warm Saturday night.

Police said the car was parked on 45th Street and the block was closed between Seventh and Eighth avenues as a precaution.

Paul Bresson, head of the FBI’s public affairs office at bureau headquarters in Washington, said agents are on the scene with the New York Police Department and that the matter is being taken seriously.

——

AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier contributed to this report.