AN EXPLOSION OUTSIDE the Colorado Springs office of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) was deliberate, the FBI has confirmed.

The blast happened Tuesday outside a barber shop that’s next door to the group’s office, which is about an hour south of Denver. There were no injuries and only minor damage, police said.

An improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated against the building, but it was too soon to know whether America’s oldest civil rights organisation was the target, FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said. A gas can had been placed with the device failed to ignite.

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The agency has sent members of its Joint Terrorism Task Force to help investigate.

Chapter President Henry Allen Jr. told The Colorado Springs Gazette the blast was strong enough to knock items off the walls. He said he was hesitant to call the explosion a hate crime without more information but said the organisation will move on.

“This won’t deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community,” Allen said.

The organisation’s national office issued a statement saying it was looking forward to a full and thorough investigation.

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