TV cartoon sparks terror alert

A promotion for a new TV cartoon show sparked a major security alert in the US city of Boston.

Major roads and bridges were closed off and bomb squads sent in as mystery objects with wires hanging from them were found.

The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing police to shut down the station and road. Another was blown up by a bomb disposal squad.

Eventually Turner Broadcasting, the Cartoon Network's parent company, confessed that it was behind the confusion. The packages of harmless magnetic, blinking lights were part of a promotion for the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Turner said they had been in place for two to three weeks in 10 US cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," the company said. "We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."