Police evacuated New York's Times Square Saturday night after a dark-colored sports utility vehicle was found to be smoking and a small "flash" was observed by firefighters on the scene.
Officers at the scene said the evacuation order stemmed from an "emergency investigation" and dozens of officers blocked access to the busy central Manhattan square, which is popular with tourists and theater-goers..
New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said a vehicle had been left in Times Square, with smoke seen coming from it.
There was an unconfirmed report that someone was seen running from the car, Browne said. A bomb squad responded and a small fire was extinguished, he said.
"We're just trying to determine if it was anything other than a car fire," said Browne. "We don't know yet if it's anything more than that."
A New York City firefighter who said he arrived early on the scene described the vehicle as a dark-colored SUV, and said it was parked at the corner of 45th Street and Seventh Avenue.
He confirmed the vehicle was smoking and also said he saw "a flash" from the back of the SUV. The firefighter said a "mini-explosion" occurred between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
"The SUV was smoking. There was a flash and we put two and two together" and an evacuation was ordered, he said.
Other emergency personnel on the scene called the incident a "car fire."
The firefighter said the bomb squad remained at the scene as of 9 p.m., including a firefighter in a bomb suit. A robot was being used to investigate the suspicious SUV.
Reuters reporters on the scene said they heard an explosion from the area of the SUV around 9:15 p.m.
Two fire trucks were also at the scene, prepared to douse the vehicle with water if needed, the firefighter said.
Police said they planned to "close down" Broadway shows in the vicinity, but it was not clear whether any theaters had actually been evacuated.
The square itself was mostly evacuated by 8 p.m., according to Reuters reporters on the scene. Police had evacuated an area stretching from about 42nd Street up to 47th Street and including Seventh Avenue and Broadway.
Archive photo of Times Square. 
A car containing a bomb was discovered in , New York City, causing the evacuation of streets surrounding the area. 

Reports say the vehicle, a , parked outside a theatre on 45th Street and Seventh Avenue, had smoke coming out of the back at around 6:30 p.m EDT (10:30 p.m. UTC). Unconfirmed reports say an unknown man ran away from the car. A roughly square area of the city, its boundaries formed by 43rd and 48th Street and 7th and 8th Avenue, was evacuated.

The  bomb squad was called in and were able to retrieve the package using a . Officials removed , consumer-grade , two five-gallon cans of gasoline, three propane tanks, electrical wiring, and two clocks with batteries that apparently were fashioned as one or two . The bomb has been described as "amateurish". No casualties or injuries were reported.

As of yet police have not named a suspect and are reviewing security footage. The car used by the suspect was  and had a non-matching license plate; the legitimate owner of the plates does not appear to have been involved in the incident.

President Barack Obama has congratulated the speediness with which the New York Police Department responded.

New York has been in a state of constant alert since the  that occurred on September 11, 2001. In September 2009, a plot to attack the  with  was uncovered by police. In December 2009, Times Square was evacuated due to a illegally parked van, although it contained no explosives. On March 6, 2008, a small bomb was set off in front of the United States armed forces recruiting station in .