Robin Zielinski / AP 
 
 A mailbox was blasted at Calvary Baptist Church in Las Cruces, about 50 miles from the Mexico border, around 8 a.m. local time, the police statement said. The first explosion, set off by a device planted in a mailbox, went off around 8:20 a.m. just as congregants at Calvary Baptist Church in southern Las Cruces were beginning to gather for the morning’s services. “I was right in the middle of saying the words ‘take and eat, this is my body’ and there was a ‘Pow!’ I mean, I knew it had to be more than a gunshot,” Monsignor John Anderson told the Las Cruces Sun-News. "It didn't know if it was a shotgun blast, I didn't know what. But it was very loud and I just kept on saying the words.” 
 
 Trujillo described the explosive devices as “dangerous, much more dangerous than just fireworks or firecrackers,” and intended to cause harm. “We have it under control but we need you to leave the building,” they instructed the congregation, college student and lifelong Holy Cross parishioner Ann-Marie Sullivan told the Sun-News. Twenty minutes later a second device exploded inside a trash can outside the Holy Cross Catholic Church just a short drive away, shattering the building’s glass front and startling worshipers in the midst of their morning Mass. Ten minutes later, and it could have been much worse, Anderson said.  
 
 Aaliyah Doninguez, 11, advises parishioners that Holy Cross Catholic Church mass is canceled in Las Cruces, N.M. (Robin Zielinski/Las Cruces Sun-News via AP) 
 
 Three miles and only 20 minutes apart, dual explosions rocked two churches in Las Cruces, N.M., Sunday morning, injuring none but leaving both congregations shaken. Susana Martinez (R) headed to her hometown, a city of about 100,000 just an hour’s drive north of the Mexican border, for a news conference with law enforcement Sunday night. “Only a coward would place an explosive device in a place of peace and a place of worship,” she told reporters. “… If your intention was to bring fear to those who worship, you have failed. Less than half-hour later, police were called to Holy Cross Catholic Church, about three miles away, where an explosive device had gone off in a trash can near the entrance of the church, according to police. Our faith is too strong and our fellowship is unbreakable.” 
 
 Asked if the bombings were an act of terrorism, State Police Chief Pete Kassetas responded that he could only say for sure that the explosions certainly provoked terror. The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad, New Mexico State Police, and an NMSU canine unit are all assisting in the investigation, as are federal officials with the FBI, ATF and Department of Homeland Security, Las Cruces Police spokesman Dan Trujillo said. Later, in response to a different question, he added, “Someone put some time and effort into this, we believe.” 
 
 The first explosion, at Calvary Baptist, went off outside an administrative entrance on the opposite side of the church from the door where worshipers were streaming in. The congregation was saved by the fact that the explosion happened during the communion; normally someone is posted at the building’s entrance, Anderson told the Sun-News, but everyone had come inside for that part of the service. Nor are they sure why these two churches in particular were targeted — Trujillo noted that Calvary Baptist is on the same street as at least five other churches, none of which were bombed. "It was a real bomb, I saw all the parts," said Cavalry Baptist member Dennis Llewellyn, who said he was outside the church when the explosive went off. Church member Dennis Llewellyn, who said he was a former special forces member with the Marines, recognized bomb parts among the debris. He and fellow church member Mike Stewart kept churchgoers arriving for the 8:30 a.m. service from going into the building during the five to 10 minutes it took for police to arrive. None of the roughly 200 people inside the building were injured, though the church’s glass front was destroyed. The incidents are being investigated separately, Las Cruces Police Department spokesman Dan Trujillo said, but with an awareness of the “totality of the day’s events.” 
 
 “It’s unlikely for us to have two incidents like this on the same day 20 minutes apart and have them not be connected,” he told The Washington Post in a phone interview. "Somebody wanted attention, and somebody wanted to be very destructive against the Catholics, I guess," Monsignor John Anderson said. "I don't know how else to read that." "We'll well have to increase the security and have people in the parking lot all the time and have cameras in that gathering area to see who is there at all times. "We can't tell them what to do, but we can tell them to be on the lookout for anything suspicious," he said. During a rally Sunday night at Pioneer Park, faith leaders from throughout the community called for forgiveness and a stronger sense of community.
– Police are investigating a pair of blasts that rocked two New Mexico churches where parishioners had gathered yesterday morning, though there were no injuries and damage was "relatively minor," authorities tell NBC News. One explosion came from a mailbox outside an administrative entrance to Calvary Baptist Church in Las Cruces at about 8:20am local time, reports the Washington Post. About 30 people had gathered inside and witnesses say they felt the building shake. Twenty minutes later, the pastor at Holy Cross Catholic Church, three miles away, said he heard a "pow" while passing out communion. "I didn't know if it was a shotgun blast…but it was very loud," he tells the Las Cruces News. The bomb exploded in a trash can outside the church's glass front doors, which shattered. "I'm just thankful to God nobody was standing by the door, because there's usually always somebody standing there," the pastor says. "Ten minutes later we would have been leaving and standing around that space." A churchgoer at Calvary Baptist—which is on the same street as several other churches that weren't targeted—says he recognized bomb parts at the scene, including an Eveready battery. A police rep says only that the two devices "were not fireworks" and "were intended, I believe, to do harm and could have done harm to people." Police add the blasts are considered related and authorities have warned other nearby churches "to be on the lookout for anything suspicious." Both churches remained closed yesterday afternoon, while classes at Holy Cross' adjoining school were canceled today.