A car bomb was found on the streets of New York’s Times Square this weekend, but police acted quickly after being alerted by local vendors, allowing them to evacuate nearby buildings and destroy the advice.

Two street vendors, Lance Orten and Aliou Niasse noticed smoke and strange popping noise coming from a Nissan Pathfinder SUV that was parked on the curb with the key still in the ignition and emergency blinkers on.

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New York Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano said that the device was made of three propane bottles and two five-gallon tanks of gasoline mixed with consumer grade fireworks.

Police say the bomb could have created a fireball big enough to kill or injure thousands of people. The bomb was placed in the busiest time of day, early evening on a Saturday night, as theatergoers are arriving to, or leaving from the area’s many theaters.

Security camera footage caught a white man in his 40’s leaving the leaving the SUV. Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano said that the bomb appeared to be “amateurish” and that authorities remained skeptical that the failed terror attack was the work of a large organization.

Nevertheless, statements by Pakistan Taliban elements claimed responsibility for the attack on Islamist websites, citing the recent killing of two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq and Pakistan as motivation for revenge.