New York’s Time Square was on Monday thrown into confusion after a suicide bomb went off at a nearby subway station in what is suspected to be a terrorist attack

The bomb, a body-worn improvised device, was detonated in the subway’s passageway under below the Port Authority bus terminal, police said.

No fewer than four people and the suspected attacker were injured in the attack, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).

The White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, said President Donald Trump had been briefed about the incident, but that there was yet to be any statement from him.

After visiting the scene of the explosion, New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, said “this was an attempted terrorist attack.

“The terrorists will not win; we will keep being the New Yorkers.”

Police have confirmed that a 27-year-old man had been detained following the blast being treated as an “attempted terrorist attack”.

The detained man, identified as Akayed Ullah from Bangladesh, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the blast and at least another three people are believed to have suffered minor injuries.

The busy terminal near Times Square has been evacuated and the area is closed off to traffic while counter-terror police officers and fire vehicles have descended on the area.

Times Square itself, a popular tourist destination visited by millions each year, has been closed to the public while police investigate.

The Port Authority, a 10-minute walk from Times Square, is a major transport hub where buses and trains operate from the west side of Midtown Manhattan.

The incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.

In September, 2016, a man injured more than two dozen people when he set off a home-made bomb in New York’s Chelsea district. (NAN)