Police say they have found fragments of an explosive device after a blast outside the UK consulate in New York.

The early morning explosion shattered windows in the building, which also houses other offices, but there were no reports of people being injured.

Police are at the scene and have sealed off the area around the building on Third Avenue, in Manhattan.

The explosion came as millions of voters in the United Kingdom went to the polls to elect a government.

Two small makeshift grenades exploded outside the British Consulate early Thursday, causing slight damage to the building but injuring no one, officials said.

The blasts occurred at 3:50 a.m. as voters were going to the polls in Britain. In London, Britain's Foreign Office said there were no provisions for Britons to vote at overseas consulates.

Police spokesman Noel Waters said the grenades had been placed inside a cement flower box outside the front door of the midtown Manhattan building that houses the consulate.
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After piecing together the shrapnel, police determined the devices were toy grenades that had been filled with gunpowder. Officers estimated that one was the size of a pineapple; the other the size of a lemon.

Blog GOP in the City has more.

Gothamist has more, including photos.
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Updates 5:45 pm

UN says staffer questioned in blast

The United Nations said one of its staff was being questioned by New York police in connection with a blast outside the British consulate earlier on Thursday. A UN spokesman said the unnamed employee was a "person of interest" in the initial investigation into the overnight explosion of two small grenades, which damaged the New York office building housing the consulate.

NY blast by UK consulate may have Middle East link

[P]olice chief Raymond Kelly told reporters he was also looking at another possible target -- a board member of Caterpillar Inc. who works in the building. The company sells bulldozers used by Israel to raze Palestinian homes.

Kelly noted there had been an April 13 protest outside the building by a group called Jews Against the Occupation.

On its web site, the group describes itself as a group of "American Jews (who) reject the Israeli government assertion that it is 'necessary' to subjugate Palestinians for the sake of keeping Jews safe."

A spokesman for Caterpillar could not immediately be reached.

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The UN employee has been released