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The FBI offered a reward for information about a potentially lethal bomb found in a backpack along the downtown route of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. The discovery before Monday's parade in honor of the slain civil rights leader raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist Aryan Nations. The parade route was changed to avoid the device. A bomb disposal unit disabled it without incident. The FBI received no warnings and did not have a suspect, said Frank Harrill, special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office. No one has claimed credit for planting the bomb.

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Investigators would not disclose what kind of explosive it was, except to say that it was “potentially deadly” and could have caused “multiple casualties” had the device detonated.

While the FBI hasn’t provided direct evidence that the explosive device was connected to the MLK Day march, an agency spokesman said the backpack’s proximity to the route was “not coincidental.”

“The confluence of the holiday, the march and the device is inescapable, but we are not at the point where we can draw any particular motive,” said Frank Harrill, special agent in charge of the Spokane FBI office.

The suspicious backpack was spotted by three city employees at an intersection in downtown Spokane about an hour before the parade was to start Monday, Harrill said. They saw wires and immediately alerted law enforcement, who disabled it without incident, he said.

The discovery before the parade for the slain civil rights leader raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist Aryan Nations.

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner said the attempted bombing was unacceptable.

“I was struck that on a day when we celebrate Dr. King, a champion of nonviolence, we were faced with a significant violent threat,” Verner said. “This is unacceptable in our community or any community.”

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that they don't believe these near-miss bomb scares are genuine anymore.

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it's gonna bite us in the ass all that much harder cause no one will believe folk who have so utterly blown their own credibility

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