Two blasts at Boston marathon kill three and injure more than 100

MortalKombat · Apr 16, 2013

Two blasts at Boston marathon kill three and injure more than 100

• FBI takes over investigation into twin blasts at finish line
• City placed on high alert as police carry out controlled blasts
• Obama: 'The American people will say a prayer for Boston'

Adam Gabbatt and Daniel Lovering in Boston and Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 April 2013 07.50 BST

<iframe src="http://embedded-video.guardianapps.co.uk/?a=false&u=/world/video/2013/apr/16/moment-boston-marathon-explosion-video" frameborder="0" height="397" width="460"></iframe>

Two large explosions at the final stretch of the Boston Marathon killed at least three people and injured more than 100, sending a pall of smoke over the area and staining the sidewalks with blood.

The blasts took place in a crowd of spectators, just feet away from the finish line where hundreds of runners were completing the world's oldest annual marathon. Photographs showed the area along Boylston Street covered in injured people, with security guards and emergency workers scrambling to give first aid.

Witnesses said they had seen victims who had lost limbs. "There were a lot of people down," said Frank Deruyter, who was running the marathon.

An eight-year-old boy was among the dead. At the city's Children's Hospital a nine-year-old girl, a seven-year-old boy, a 12-year-old and another child aged two were among the injured, according to the Globe.

Early on Tuesday morning the Guardian witnessed FBI investigators entering and leaving a building in the Boston suburb of Revere, at one stage taking away a black plastic bag. The Associated Press said Massachusetts state police had confirmed that a search warrant related to the investigation into the explosions was served on Monday night in Revere but authorities provided no further details.

As many as two unexploded bombs were also found near the end of the 26.2-mile (42km) course as part of what appeared to be a well co-ordinated attack but they were safely disarmed, a senior US intelligence official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The two devices that caused the carnage had detonated without warning at about 2.50pm ET on Tuesday, the Boston police commissioner Ed Davis told reporters at a media briefing. Asked whether the city was under a terrorist attack, he replied: "We're not being definitive about this right now, but you can reach your own conclusions based on what happened."

The Reuters news agency said the devices used gunpowder as the explosive and were packed with ball bearings and other shrapnel to maximise injuries. Reuters said the description came from a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.

Dozens of injured people were taken to local hospitals where some remained in a critical condition on Monday evening. The Associated Press put the number of injured at more than 130.

Police wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles guarded the main entrance of Massachusetts General Hospital on Monday evening. Inside were 29 people injured in the blasts, including eight who were in a critical condition and undergoing surgery. Dr Alasdair Conn, the hospital's chief of emergency services, said at least four of them had arrived with traumatic amputations, meaning their limbs had been blown off.

President Obama, at a briefing at the White House, said: "The American people will say a prayer for Boston tonight. Michelle and I send our deepest thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims in the wake of this senseless loss."

Obama said he had spoken with the FBI director and the Department of Homeland Security, who were co-ordinating the federal response. He stopped short of using the word "terrorism" to describe the explosions but vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"We will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable," he said. "Make no mistake, we will find out who did this and why they did this, and the groups or individuals responsible will feel the full weight of justice."

A White House official, speaking off the record, said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism. But at a press conference on Monday night the FBI special agent who has taken control of the inquiry, Rick DesLauriers, said it was a "criminal investigation and potential terrorism investigation".

He refused to comment on reports that a "person of interest" was being treated at Brigham and Women's hospital in the city. The police commissioner flatly denied reports there was a suspect at the hospital.

Davis described the loss of life as "horrendous", adding: "This cowardly act will not be taken in stride. We will turn every rock over to find the people who are responsible for this."

The Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick, said the city would be open on Tuesday "but it will not be business as usual".

The aftermath of the attack on the Boston Marathon. Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty Images

The blasts came at the climax of what should have been a day of great celebration for Boston and for marathon runners from around the world. The 26.2-mile race, which started in 1897 and is one of six World Marathon Majors, has almost 27,000 participants and attracts up to 500,000 spectators, making it a massive security operation for the local authorities.

The event takes place on Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts state holiday to mark the first battles of the revolutionary war against Britain. Monday is also "Tax Day" in the US, the deadline for individuals to file their tax returns.

After the explosions the city went into high alert. All off-duty police officers were brought back on the job and told that a maximum alert would remain indefinitely. Tests and controlled explosions were carried out on scores of parcels and backpacks that had been left strewn along the parade line in the panic that followed the blasts.

Police and runners react following two explosions at the Boston Marathon finish area. Photograph: MetroWest Daily News/Ken McGagh/Reuters

A no-fly zone was imposed in the immediate zone of the incidents and flights into local airports were suspended briefly. Boston residents and visitors to the marathon were advised to return home or stay in their hotel rooms, and to avoid congregating in public spaces. "People should be calm but they should understand this is an ongoing event," the police chief said.

'A loud boom ... then glass everywhere'

Wounded people were taken to the medical tent that had originally been set up to treat weary runners. One of the victims included a Boston police officer seen being wheeled away from the scene with a bleeding leg. Cherie Falgoust, who was waiting for her husband to finish the race, said: "I was expecting my husband any minute. I don't know what this building is … it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don't know what it was. I just ducked."

Dennis Crowley, the founder of social media company Foursquare, was running in the race. He used Twitter to reassure family and friends that he was safe. His cousin witnessed the explosion and was "shaken but OK. FYI no one at mi 26 has any idea what's happening," he tweeted.

Crowley said cell phone service had been swamped by worried callers, mobile batteries were running out and runners were struggling to get through to their friends and relatives.

Doctors treating the 29 patients brought to Massachusetts General Hospital after Monday's blasts were seeing "a lot of shrapnel injuries", said Peter Fagenholz, a trauma surgeon.

Many of the most seriously wounded had sustained damage to their lower limbs, he said. Several of the patients had traumatic amputations and at least one patient had a shattered eardrum, Fagenholz said.

It was too early to say "how everybody is going to do" and a number of the patients would need repeated surgery in the coming days. Fagenholz added: "They're pretty brave, you know? It's a terrible thing and most patients' attitude is just 'Do what you have to do and try to make me better.'"

A spokesman for the White House said the administration was in contact with state and local authorities, with White House officials instructed to provide whatever assistance was necessary in the investigation and response.

Security was stepped up in New York City, with the NYPD's critical response vehicles being deployed, though it was not clear whether the move was a routine precaution or based on any specific intelligence.

In Boston there were accounts that the windows of a local restaurant were blown out. Security was stepped up in hotels and public buildings throughout the city.

<iframe src="http://embedded-video.guardianapps.co.uk/?a=false&u=/world/video/2013/apr/15/boston-marathon-explosions-aftermath-video" frameborder="0" height="397" width="460"></iframe>

Chris Cassidy, a reporter with the Boston Herald who was taking part in the marathon, said he saw two explosions, accompanied by a loud bang and then smoke rising. "I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something. That one was in front of Abe and Louie's. There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads."

Among the injured was Dean Smith, who had been standing close to the second blast site to watch his 27-year-old son finish the race. Both he and his son suffered minor injuries. "It felt like it was right there," he told the Guardian as he left hospital on Monday night, pointing to his car two feet away. "It was really close. My wife said I flew five feet."

Smith sustained a minor shrapnel wound to his right calf. His back was also injured and both his eardrums burst, he said. His son was expected to make a full recovery, he added.

Shaan Gandhi, a medical student at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the hospital was working flat out to take care of the injured. "It's supposed to be a really happy day," he said. "It's supposed to be a really quiet day and then this all happens."

He said he had seen a patient with severe leg injuries. "We were just trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible and try to save his life," Gandhi said. "I've never seen something like this."

This year's Boston Marathon, the 177th annual race in the city, was being staged in commemoration of the Newtown school shooting, in which 20 young children and six educators were killed in December. The finishing mile was dedicated to the victims of Newtown.

Simmons · Apr 16, 2013

Boston marathon explosions: eight-year-old boy among those killed

The eight-year-old child killed in the Boston marathon bombings has been named as Martin Richard, whose mother and young sister were said to be seriously injured in hospital.

By Jon Swaine, Philip Sherwell in Boston 8:13AM BST 16 Apr 2013

Martin lived in Dorchester, a suburb of the city where two explosions struck runners and spectators at the finish line of Monday's Boston marathon. He was one of at least three people killed in the attack, which left more than 130 wounded, some severely.

The eight-year-old child killed in the Boston marathon bombings has been named as Martin Richard

The Boston Globe reported in the early hours of Tuesday morning that he was killed while walking out to hug his father, Bill, a local community leader, as he crossed the finish line after completing the race.

The newspaper, the region's biggest, said that his sister had suffered the loss of a leg in the blast and that his mother was also "grievously injured" and receiving treatment in hospital.

"They are beloved by this community," Ayanna Pressley, a city councillor, said of the Richard family to the newspaper. "They contribute in many ways. That's why you see this outpouring.

"It's surreal, it's tragic, it's incomprehensible. Everyone here tonight is trying to comfort one another and be prayerful." A third child from the family was reported to be uninjured.

The twin blasts – the worst attack on US soil since the September 11 strikes – unleashed two fireballs and shot shrapnel into people lining the city's streets on Patriots' Day, a public holiday for schoolchildren and thousands of workers. Fifty-foot plumes of smoke were sent into the air.

The bombs exploded less than 30 seconds apart and appeared to come from the crowded pavement beside the road. Investigators were reported to be looking into whether they could have been placed in rubbish bins.

Graphic images of pavements soaked in blood and littered with body parts emerged from the scene on Monday, after the blasts were captured live on television coverage of the marathon, one of the world's most celebrated races.

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama pledged that investigators would "get to the bottom" of the incident. "Any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice," said Mr Obama.

FBI officials said the bombings were being treated as a "potential" terrorist attack.

The first details of victims emerged as a large team of law enforcement officials searched the home of a "person of interest" in connection with the bombings in the town of Revere, about ten miles north of Boston.

FBI agents, police officers, firefighters and officials from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms swarmed the fifth floor of an apartment block on Ocean Avenue, according to witnesses.

A law enforcement source was reported to have told Fox 25, a local television station, that the search was carried out after a suspicious motorist was pulled over by police after driving repeatedly past the nearby State Police barracks.

The driver, who reportedly had a "nervous demeanour", was said to have subsequently led police and FBI agents to the property on Ocean Avenue in Revere, which was then searched for several hours.

Most officials left the apartment building at about midnight, leaving three police officers in the lobby guarding the property and checking the identifications of residents attempting to return home.

At least one Saudi national caught up in the attack and subsequently admitted to hospital was reported to be under watch by police as a potential "person of interest". Officials stressed, however, that no one had been taken into custody.

Elizabeth Warren, a US Senator for Massachusetts, said on Monday night that Boston was a "family in pain" and promised that "there will be no efforts spared" in bringing those responsible to justice.

"The Boston marathon is always a day of great celebration, and today it was turned into tragedy," she told The Daily Telegraph. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been hurt, and their families.

"During the marathon we are one family. We cheer for each other, we carry each other across the finish lines. And when tragedy strikes, we are also one family. We hurt together, we help each other together".

The Metropolitan Police said that it was reviewing security plans for the London marathon this Sunday.

Simmons · Apr 16, 2013

Boston Marathon explosions: Pakistan Taliban says it was not behind bombs

The Pakistan Taliban has denied responsibility for the bomb attacks which killed three people and wounded more than 100 in Boston.

A person who was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon is taken away from the scene in a wheelchair Photo: BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY

By Rob Crilly, Islamabad8:48AM BST 16 Apr 2013

"The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) wasn't involved in carrying out the Boston attacks," Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the group told The Daily Telegraph. " We will issue a fuller statement only when those who have done this make any claim."

He also told the AFP news agency that the TTP supported attacks on the US.

Bill Iffrig fell when one of the bombs detonated. Shortly afterwards he got up and finished the race. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The group claimed it was behind the botched 2010 attack on Times Square and has close ties with al-Qaeda.

Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas remain a haven for militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, which launch attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.

The training camps have also been used to plot attacks on the West and to equip British-born Jihadis with basic bomb making and field craft.

A video released by the TTP claimed responsibility for a car bomb attempt in New York’s Times Square on May 1, 2010, for which Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was jailed for life. The video showed Shahzad embracing Hakimullah Mehsud, the movement’s leader.

Last year the TTP said it was behind the attempt to murder Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old girl and education campaigner.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack in Boston and US leaders have tried to avoid pointing the finger at Jihadi groups before more facts are known. As well as home-grown American extremists, suspicion is also likely to fall on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Its Inspire magazine has serialised the writings of Abu Mus’ab Al-Suri, calling on American Muslims to launch lone wolf attacks against places where large numbers of civilians gather, such as sporting events.

In an issue last year, he wrote: “The type of attack, which repels states and topples governments, is mass slaughter of the population. This is done by targeting human crowds in order to inflict maximum human losses.

“This is very easy since there are numerous such targets such as crowded sports arenas, annual social events, large international exhibitions, crowded marketplaces, sky-scrapers, crowded buildings… etc."

AceFrehley · Apr 17, 2013

Boston blasts: Singaporeans make plans to leave Boston in the aftermath of bombings

Published on Apr 16, 2013
By May Chen

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JWFR92qhAXY?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>

The 17 Singaporeans who took part in the Boston Marathon have begun to make plans to leave the city, in the aftermath of Monday's deadly explosions.

Ms Melissa Keong, 37, had initially planned to spend Monday night in Boston before driving up to Montreal. But following the blasts, her friend and her decided to leave immediately, making the six-hour journey by car.

"My friend made the decision to leave immediately because our hotel is very near to the finish line," said the senior solutions specialist with IT services provider Dimension Data. "Everyone was checking out."

Ms Lin Run'er, a 30-year-old teacher, is likely to be among the first Singaporeans to get home - she is booked on a flight that is scheduled to leave Boston on Tuesday evening.

A group of six runners from the Safra Running Club is staying outside of the city and had made plans to drive to Washington DC, New York City and Canada after the race.

It is understood that all 17 who competed are unhurt from the blasts.

Simmons · Apr 17, 2013

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Boston Marathon bombs: al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine taught pressure cooker bomb-making techniques

A recipe for how to make pressure cooker bombs, which investigators say were used in the Boston Marathon attack, was most notoriously published in the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire.

Department of Homeland Security 2010 warning on Pressure Cookers

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent
7:37PM BST 16 Apr 2013

The recipe – along with a rationale for post-9/11 terror – was printed three years ago in al-Qaeda’s English-language promotional online magazine, Inspire.

In an article, it instructed readers on how, as its headline writers put it, to “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom”.

It gave the types of explosive, timers and other ingredients needed – along with, it said, a pressure cooker.

That article was from the first edition of the magazine. Written in perfect but slightly hysterical English, some thought it was a hoax or satire along the lines of the film “Four Lions”.

In fact, most analysts remain convinced it was the brainchild of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American propagandist for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and was edited by Samir Khan, another American citizen who had travelled to Yemen to join the group.

It was clear in its market – the disaffected young men in their mid-twenties, whether converts or of Muslim origin, who studies show are by far and away the biggest source of recruits to the jihadist cause.

Subsequent editions suggested even more random forms of violence that anyone could carry out, such as driving a car into crowds as a weapon. The aim was to cause maximum response with a minimum of fuss.

Its methodology was in some ways a sign of weakness, an acknowledgement that well-planned, large scale attacks on the scale of 9/11, or for that matter the Oklahoma outrage by a white supremacist, were unlikely to be repeated because of increased security and the erosion of al-Qaeda’s command structure by drone strikes.

Other “spectaculars” had failed, such as the attempt to down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 by the so-called “underpants bomber”, an Awlaki recruit of Nigerian origin, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

By contrast, smaller scale random attacks had notable success: most strikingly, before Inspire’s first edition but clearly an incident its authors had in mind, Nidal Malik Hasan, the US army major who shot 13 people dead at his base at Fort Hood, Texas, had been in direct contact with Awlaki.

As new editions appeared, investigators took Inspire ever more seriously.

A disaffected US army private, Naser Jason Abdo, jailed for life in August 2012 after being found in possession of a bomb with which he said he was going to blow up a restaurant popular with soldiers from Fort Hood in an act of solidarity with Hasan, had a copy of the Inspire article.

In his hotel room were all the ingredients listed, including two pressure cookers.

Last October, Quasi Muhammad Nafis, accused of attempting to bomb a Federal Reserve Bank building in New York, was said by prosecutors to have read Inspire and even to have written an article in the hope that the magazine would publish it.

He, though, was trapped by an FBI sting operation. His car bomb was a fake given him by an undercover operative.

Awalaki and Khan were both killed in an American drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. The magazine has continued to publish, however, and while the pressure cookers do not prove Islamist terrorists were involved in the Boston attack, that is only part of the story.

For all its semi-comic tone, the magazine’s strategy of balancing relatively small-scale bombing with dramatic symbolism for political effect is an important chapter in the modern terror playbook. And its recipes are available for anyone.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Second Boston Marathon victim identified: Krystle Campbell

By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News
National Affairs Reporter

By Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 3 hrs ago

Krystle Campbell (Facebook)

A second victim in the Boston Marathon bombings has been identified: Krystle M. Campbell, a 29-year-old originally from Medford, Mass.

Her father, William A. Campbell Jr., told Yahoo News he's in shock that his daughter was killed.

"My daughter was the most lovable girl. She helped everybody, and I'm just so shocked right now. We're just devastated," he said. "She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand."

Campbell was at the finish line with a friend, Karen Rand, to cheer on her boyfriend, who was running the race. William Campbell said he doesn't know if Rand's boyfriend finished the race before the bombs went off.

Karen Rand survived, but was in surgery for her serious injuries through Monday night. Cheryl Rand Engelhardt, Karen Rand's sister-in-law, wrote on Facebook that Krystle's parents at first believed that Karen was their daughter, and that she had survived the attack, because Karen was carrying Krystle's ID.

Krystle's family was finally ushered into Karen's hospital room after one of her leg surgeries by hospital staff, only to discover their daughter's friend instead of Krystle. Krystle was then declared missing, and the family found out on Tuesday she was among the dead.

More than 170 people were wounded—17 of them critically—and three were killed in the attacks, which occurred at 2:50 p.m. Monday near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Campbell attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Medford High School.

The other identified victim, 8-year-old Martin Richard, was running from the first explosion with his family when the second blast killed him. His mother and 6-year-old sister were injured in the bombing as well.

“My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston," Bill Richard, Martin's father, said in a statement Tuesday. "I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin. We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover."

Correction: An earlier version of this article said Campbell was cheering on her boyfriend, instead of Rand's boyfriend.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Boston Marathon explosions: bomber filled pressure cookers with nails

The Boston marathon bombs were made from pressure cookers packed with nails, investigators disclosed, as President Barack Obama admitted that it was not known whether they were planted by a foreign or domestic terrorist.

Police officers stand near the finish line of the Boston Marathon as an investigation continues into the dual bombings Photo: EPA

By Nick Allen, Boston and Raf Sanchez in Washington
8:33PM BST 16 Apr 2013

The six-litre pressure cookers contained nails, ball bearings, other shrapnel and gunpowder and were placed on the ground inside black duffel bags near the finish line. Such devices have been used in attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal, and one was also deployed in the failed Times Square bombing in May 2010.

The Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the New York attack, denied any role in the Boston bombs.

According to a Department of Homeland Security document from 2004, pressure cookers were “a technique commonly taught in Afghan training camps”.

A domestic terrorist could also have worked out how to make them using the internet. An article in Inspire, al-Qaeda’s English-language online magazine, in 2010 instructed readers on how to “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom”, which employed a pressure cooker.

Bill Daly, a former FBI investigator, said: “I don’t think the use of pressure cookers points to any particular group or individual.”

On Tuesday a solemn President Obama prepared America for a potentially long wait to find those responsible.

“What we don’t yet know is who carried out this attack or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organisation, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual. We will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice,” he said.

There was no claim of responsibility. Richard DesLauriers, head of the Boston FBI office, said: “This will be a worldwide investigation. We will go to the ends of the earth to find the subject or subjects responsible for this despicable crime.”

For the next two days police will search the 12-block crime scene for explosives residue, the remnants of a detonator and wires that could help them reconstruct the devices. The FBI and CIA are trawling databases for dangerous individuals with a link to Boston, and listening centres are searching for “chatter” about the attack among Middle East terrorist groups.

The National Security Agency is examining calls through mobile phone towers near Copley Square in the city centre, especially those to abroad. They are also looking for calls made at the moment of the explosions in case the devices were detonated by phone.

A third strand of the investigation involves an appeal for photographs and videos to create a visual timeline of the scene.

Two explosives sweeps were carried out near the finish line, one early in the morning and the other an hour before the first runner finished, meaning the bomber had a three-hour window to plant the devices.

Early analysis suggested the devices were crude with no high-grade explosives. The clouds of smoke and lack of structural damage to buildings also indicate simple devices. Doctors said the nails appeared to have had the heads removed. Some victims had more than 30 pieces of shrapnel in their bodies.

FBI agents on Tuesday visited the home of a 20-year-old student from Saudi Arabia. He had been injured and was questioned in hospital but not arrested.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

FBI grills Saudi man in Boston bombings

‘Smells of gunpowder’

By LARRY CELONA

Last Updated: 9:10 AM, April 16, 2013
Posted: 2:35 AM, April 16, 2013

An FBI investigator examines a bag inside an apartment in Revere, in a building on the street where a man being questioned in the bomb attack lives.

Police took a 20-year-old Saudi national into custody near the scene of yesterday’s horrific Boston Marathon bomb attack, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

The potential suspect was questioned by the FBI and local police yesterday at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was under heavy guard while being treated for shrapnel injuries to his leg sustained in the blast.

In late afternoon, a large group of federal and state law enforcement agents raided an apartment in a building in the Saudi man’s hometown of Revere, Mass.

FBI agents could be seen through one window. It was not clear what, if anything, they found. But Revere fire officials said they were called out to support bomb-squad officers as part of an investigation of a “person of interest” in the marathon attack.

At the hospital, investigators seized the man’s clothes to examine whether they held any evidence that he was behind the attack. The law-enforcement sources also told The Post that the man was not free to leave the medical center.

He had suffered shrapnel wounds to the back of a leg but was not likely to die, a source said.

As of last night, investigators had not yet directly asked the man whether he had set off the bombs. But they had asked him general questions, such as what he was doing in the area.

The potential suspect told police he had dinner Sunday night near Boston’s Prudential Center, about half a mile from the blast site, the sources said.

He also said that he went to the Copley Square area yesterday to witness the finish of the race.

The sources said that, after the man was grabbed by police, he smelled of gunpowder and declared, “I thought there would be a second bomb.”

He also asked: “Did anyone die?”

Officials showed up at the Revere apartment at about 5:30 p.m. in unmarked vehicles, a resident of the building said. It’s on a street where the man had lived, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

About an hour later, more vehicles, carrying agents of the FBI, Homeland Security and ATF also descended on the site, along with firefighters and a bomb squad. They searched an apartment on the fifth floor.

By midnight, most of the authorities had left the complex, which sits on a piece of ocean-front property in the seaside city.

Investigators were looking for anything that might have been used set to off the devices, including a remote control.

According to a report by CBS News, the man was initially tackled by a bystander while running from the scene of the explosions.

The bystander told police he grabbed the Saudi because he thought he was acting suspiciously.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Investigation widens as search of Saudi national's apartment turns up nothing terrorism related

By KATE KOWSH
Last Updated: 3:50 PM, April 16, 2013
Posted: 10:29 AM, April 16, 2013

Mohammed Badawood, 20, is the roommate of the Saudi national being questioned by the FBI.

Investigators have ruled out the Saudi national questioned in connection with yesterday’s Boston Marathon bombing as a suspect after a search of the man’s apartment and computer turned up nothing explosive- or terrorism-related, law-enforcement sources said.

The FBI-lead investigators are continuing to probe the man’s background but are also conducting a wider search of terrorism websites and chatter, surveillance footage, and the ball bearings and nails used in the two bombs, the sources said.

According to CNN, investigators have also found no link from the bombings to foreign or al-Qaeda connections.

A roommate of the man described him as “a good boy,” incapable of such a monstrous attack.

Investigators early last night converged on a fifth-floor apartment where the person of interest lives with two roommates.

Mohammed Badawood, 20, described the man as “quiet and clean” and said he last saw him two days ago. Badawood told The Post he moved into the apartment about five months ago.

“He’s a good boy,” Badawood said of his roommate today. “I think he couldn’t do that.”

Officials showed up at the Revere apartment at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday in unmarked vehicles, a resident of the building said.

About an hour later, more vehicles, carrying agents of the FBI, Homeland Security and ATF also descended on the site, along with firefighters and a bomb squad.

Badawood said officials were searching his apartment when he arrived home last night at around 7.

Badawood said nothing was taken from the home and that officials told him the Saudi national was injured in the blast.

An FBI investigator examines a bag inside an apartment in Revere, in a building on the street where a man being questioned in the bomb attack lives.

However, officials were later seen carrying bags out of the apartment complex. It is unclear if those items came from that apartment.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said today, "There are no specific threats against New York City but in the aftermath of the things that Boston’s experienced, we prepared as if yesterday was a prelude to an attack here in New York, in that, indeed, has been our SOP, our standard operating procedure since 9/11."

Last night, Revere fire officials said they were called out to support bomb-squad officers as part of an investigation of a “person of interest” in the marathon attack.

By midnight, most of the authorities had left the complex, which sits on a piece of oceanfront property in the seaside city.

Investigators were looking for anything that might have been used set to off the devices, including a remote control, sources said.

Marcus Worthington, 24, a law student who lives in a neighboring building, said an ATF official told him investigators were responding to a tip about one of the apartments.

"He said that they were investigating a tip about a dangerous device in one of the apartments,” he said.

“I did ask him if it was a bomb or something, but he wouldn't answer."

Yesterday, police took the 20-year-old Saudi national into custody near the scene of yesterday’s horrific Boston Marathon bomb attack, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

The Saudi national was questioned by the FBI and local police at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was under heavy guard while being treated for shrapnel injuries to his leg.

Facebook

He had suffered shrapnel wounds to the back of a leg but was expected to survive those injuries, a source said.

At the hospital, investigators seized the man’s clothes to examine whether they held any evidence that he was behind the attack. The law-enforcement sources also told The Post that the man was not free to leave the medical center.

As of last night, investigators had not yet directly asked the man whether he had set off the bombs. But they had asked him general questions, such as what he was doing in the area.

The man told police he had dinner Sunday night near Boston’s Prudential Center, about half a mile from the blast site, the sources said.

He also said that he went to the Copley Square area yesterday to witness the finish of the race.

The sources said that, after the man was grabbed by police, he smelled of gunpowder and declared, “I thought there would be a second bomb.”

He also asked: “Did anyone die?”

The twin blasts injured 176 people — 17 critically, authorities said today. The official death toll remained at three, but a law-enforcement source told The Post it could be as high as 12.

Wounded bomb victims lie sprawled amid a chilling, surreal scene in Boston.

One witness told The New York Times there appeared to be 10 to 12 fatalities, including “women, children, finishers.” The wounds appeared to be “lower torso — the type of stuff you see from someone exploding out,” he said.

The dead included 8-year-old Martin Richard, whose mom and sister were hurt as they waited for his dad to finish running. Richard's father, Bill, is a community leader in Dorchester.

Bomb-detecting cops swept the finish-line area twice yesterday morning — once early and again an hour before the first runners crossed, Boston police commissioner Ed Davis said.

“Those two EOD sweeps did not turn up any evidence,” Davis said.

But the city’s top cop said there was no way to prevent an attacker from coming and going, and perhaps planting explosives after police had swept the area.

“People can come and go and bring items in and out,” Davis said.

Police have not found any other explosives beyond the two that went off.

FBI investigators leaving the apartment building following a raid of the Saudi man's home.

Richard DesLauriers, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the agency’s Boston office, vowed to go to the “ends of the earth” to hunt down the terrorists.

“This will be a worldwide investigation,” he said. “We will go to the ends of the earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime and we will do everything we can to bring them to justice.”

Cops appealed to marathon spectators, asking for any still pictures or video shot in the neighborhood yesterday.

Even footage blocks away, well before or after the blast, might become crucial.

“Any information or photographs that happened — not just at that scene but anywhere in the immediate vicinity could be helpful to this investigation,” Davis said.

Additional reporting by David K. Li

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Boston Marathon bombing: Martin Richard's family ripped apart by terror attack

His eight-year-old son is dead, his wife has suffered brain injuries, and his five-year-old daughter has lost a leg. Bill Richard is a father stricken by grief after his family was nearly destroyed by the Boston marathon bombing. Jon Swaine reports.

Martin Richard, bottom right, was with his family watching his father, Bill, run the marathon. Martin died in the blast, his mother, Denise, and his six-year-old sister Jane are in hospital with serious injuries Photo: FACEBOOK

By Jon Swaine, Boston
9:55PM BST 16 Apr 2013

As he wandered on to Boylston Street to greet his father with a toothy smile and a hug at the finish line of the Boston marathon, Martin Richard was the picture of childish joy.

Moments later, however, this bright and cheerful eight-year-old, who loved playing football and riding his bicycle, was taken away in a flash of violence that shattered his family and left a city grieving.

A pressure cooker, packed with explosives and metal, and stuffed into a black duffel bag, blew up on the pavement to which Martin had returned to be with his mother Denise, sister Jane, and brother Henry.

As Bill Richard passed the finish line yards away, the explosion claimed his son's life, tore off one of five-year-old Jane's legs and delivered a blow to the head that gave Mrs Richard, 43, serious brain injuries.

Within 12 seconds, a second duffel bag bomb exploded further down the road, tearing into another section of pavement packed with crowds celebrating the race on Patriots' Day, a public holiday in Massachusetts.

"No more hurting people," Martin wrote across the top of the page

No person or group has yet claimed responsibility for the atrocity, which killed three people and injured 176, and authorities are yet to establish a motive.

Mr Richard, a 42-year-old neighbourhood activist, spoke of his heartbreak as he lamented the loss of his "dear son".

"We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers," he said in a statement. "I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin."

A candle was burning Tuesday night outside the Richard's home on a quiet street in Dorchester, an affluent suburb of Boston, where a single word had been chalked on to the path by a neighbour: "Peace."

The same slogan was carefully written on a colourful poster drawn by Martin last year in a class at Neighborhood House charter school. "No more hurting people," he wrote across the top of the page.

"They are just the sweetest, greatest kids," Holly Moulton, a teacher at the school, told The Daily Telegraph, choking back tears after laying flowers at their door. "Always so happy and full of life."

Krystle Campbell, 29, who had been watching her boyfriend run the marathon, was named as the second spectator to have been killed in the attacks.

Her father, William, described his daughter, who worked for a restaurant consultancy firm, as a "wonderful, wonderful girl", loved by her friends and family, and always "willing to lend a hand".

"My daughter was the most lovable girl," Mr Campbell told reporters. "She helped everybody and I'm just so shocked right now. We're just devastated."

Of the victims, 17 were in a critical condition in hospital, severely wounded by shrapnel such as nails and ball bearings from the six-litre cookers. Medics said the bombs appeared to have been designed to cause maximum human carnage.

No other victims’ names were released.

As investigators struggled to identify the bombers, President Barack Obama described the attacks as “an act of terror” and promised that Americans would respond “selflessly, compassionately, unafraid”.

Classes have been cancelled this week at Martin’s school, where Mrs Richard, a neighbourhood watch official, worked as a librarian and read books to young pupils in a voice that “brought stories to life”.

Residents of the family’s neighbourhood, once home to president John F Kennedy’s mother, Rose, gazed into the distance from the doorsteps of Civil War-era homes. Several appeared to be holding the hands of their own children a bit tighter.

Betty Delorey recalled Martin hopping over the fence outside his house and clambering up trees. Jane Sherman remembered the eight-year-old heading out to play baseball with the father he adored.

“What a beautiful smile he had,” said Darren McNair, 51, whose son, Tyler, played football with Martin. “I will always remember seeing it from across the field. What a senseless, senseless tragedy.”

Officials from the FBI, police and other law-enforcement agencies were also struggling to make sense of the bombings, as they appealed for witnesses to submit photographs and video footage.

“This was a heinous and cowardly act,” Mr Obama said in remarks delivered at the White House.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor who represents Massachusetts in Washington, said that Boston was a “family in pain” following the attacks.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Second victim identified: Heartbroken father is told daughter had survived Boston bombs - only to learn she was dead after doctors mistook her for her best friend

Krystle Campbell was with a friend watching friend's boyfriend run when bomb struck
Father was told she had survived
Krystle had been mistaken for her friend because she was carrying her ID on her
Devastated dad only learned the truth 12 hours later after going into hospital room and saw her friend there instead of his child
She was 'the daughter that every father dreams to have'
Krystle was living with her ill grandmother to take care of her and went to the marathon every year

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER PUBLISHED: 18:30 GMT, 16 April 2013 | UPDATED: 22:51 GMT, 16 April 2013

The second fatal victim of the Boston Marathon terror attacks has been identified as a 29-year-old steakhouse manager who went to the race every year. Doctors initially told William Campbell Jr. that his daughter Krystle had survived the bombing. But doctors had mistaken her for her best friend, Karen Rand, because Rand had been carrying Campbell's identification and was in surgery and unable to correct the mistake. Campbell spent 12 hours believing his daughter had survived and only learned the truth after going into the post-operating room and saw Rand lying there instead. 'We had the doctors come out and tell us everything they did (to save Rand) — and it wasn’t our daughter,' Campbell said.

Krystle Campbell's parents had believed she survived for 12 hours and only learned she had died after going into the hospital room and discovering her friend there instead

Krystle went to marathon, which she did every year, and was with Rand, cheering on Rand’s boyfriend.They were struck by the first blast as they waited near the finish line. William Campbell rushed to the hospital and felt relieved when doctors said they were operating on their daughter's leg at Massachusetts General Hospital.But when nurses brought him into a post-operating room around 2 a.m. and saw Rand instead.'I said, "That’s not my daughter, that’s Karen! Where’s my daughter?" The doctors were as shocked as we were,' Campbell said.

A Boston detective later showed them a photo of Krystle, who worked as a manager at Jimmy's Steakhouse.'I almost passed out on the floor,' Campbell said as he was about to view his daughter's body. 'She was the best person you’d ever meet. She helped everybody,' Campbell said. 'I don’t care who you were, she was always there.'Krystle was one of the three victims killed in the two blasts that came just seconds apart. The first victim identified was eight-year-old Martin Richard.There were 183 people injured in the attack, and 23 people remain in critical condition. As many as 10 people suffered a lost limb, including two children.

Heartbreaking mixup: William Campbell was told his daughter, Krystle, (right), survived but later discovered doctors were actually operating on her friend Karen Rand, (left)

Heartbroken: Krystle's mother Patty Campbell, center, flanked by her brother, John Reilly, and son, Billy, spoke to reporters outside her home in Medford, Mass. on Tuesday and said her daughter had a heart of gold

Mourning: Patty Campbell (top right), mother of Boston Marathon explosion victim Krystle Campbell, told reporters that she couldn't have asked for a better daughter

'My daughter was the most lovable girl. She helped everybody, and I'm just so shocked right now. We're just devastated,' he said. 'She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand.'Krystle went to watch the Marathon every year, according to Boston.com. Krystle's mother, Patty Campbell, was overwhelmed with grief when she addressed reporters gathered outside her home on in Medford, Massachusetts on Tuesday.'She had a heart of gold...she was always smiling and friendly,' Patty Campbell said, fighting back tears as she remembered Krystle.'I couldn't ask for a better daughter. It's hard to believe this is happening. This doesn't make any sense.'

Krystle's grandmother Lillian Campbell said she went to the marathon every year 'because she loved people'

'She was the best,' the mother said. 'She’s been doing it since she was a little girl,' said her grandmother, Lillian Campbell. 'She didn’t miss a Marathon, watching it at the finish line.'She enjoyed doing it because she liked people. She’d meet a lot of people over there. She was very friendly, Krystle. She’d talk to anybody.' Her grandmother added that Krystle had just moved to the town a short time ago. She was living with her grandmother to care for her during an illness for the past couple of years.Lillian said that her granddaughter 'was just beautiful.'She was fun, outgoing person. She was always there to help somebody. All her friends loved her.'The family is besides themselves now because something happened to her,' the grandmother said.

Krystle Campbell worked as a manager at a steakhouse and was living with her ill grandmother so she could take care of her

Before working at the steakhouse, Krystle was a manager at The Summer Shack. 'The Summer Shack family is devastated by the loss of our beloved Krystle Campbell. Please keep her & her family in your thoughts & prayers,' the popular restaurant Tweeted this afternoon.She attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston and was graduate of Medford High School.Her father had harsh words for whoever carried out the attack.'I’m very angry. I hope they catch the bastard and fry him,' Campbell said of whoever perpetrated the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.'I can’t understand it — someone doing that. People are out there enjoying a beautiful day and then to have this happen. 'And then the little boy that passed,' he told the New York Daily News, referring to 8-year-old Martin Richard. 'It’s totally tragic.'

'My daughter was the most lovable girl': William Campbell said about his daughter, Krystle, (right), pictured with a friend

The mayor of Medford, Mass., Krystle's hometown, said he had attempted to console her father.'Mr. Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life,' Mayor Michael McGlynn said, according to Reuters.'She had a great sense of humor and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots. She was someone who worked hard at everything she did.' McGlynn said.

'Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved.'A former colleague of Krystle's, Steve Sullivan of Pembroke, MA, told BuzzFeed that Krystle was 'a beautiful person' and 'an angel.' 'Whenever I saw her she always had a smile on her face.'Campbell's death was reported as authorities released further information about the type of bombs used in the attack.The two bombs were made from six-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black backpacks, police sources revealed today.

The cruelly-designed bombs have 'frequently' been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a 2010 Homeland Security Department pamphlet - hinting at the origins of the bombers behind the worst terrorist atrocity in the U.S. since 9/11.When the devices exploded near the crowded Boston Marathon finish line around 2:50pm on Monday, victims suffered as many as 40 shrapnel wounds each and at least 10 people needed amputations.

Witnesses described seeing body parts flying through the air and shoes that 'still had flesh in them.'Fatal victim Martin Richard's younger sister, Jane, lost a leg in the explosion and his mother Denise is in hospital after undergoing brain surgery. Martin's older brother, 12-year-old Henry, escaped injury while his father suffered minor shrapnel wounds to his legs.

Bomb: Images from a Homeland Security Department pamphlet shows a diagram for rudimentary improvised explosive devices using pressure cookers

The bombs used to kill and maim are believed to have contained black powder or gunpowder as the explosive, and information on how to make such a bomb is available on the internet, experts said. The devices were then left at the scene to look like discarded property, CBS News reported.Investigators have also found pieces of an electronic circuit board which could indicate a timer was used in the detonation.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

'Ma, I'm hurt real bad': Agony of mother whose TWO sons each lost a leg as doctors say up to 10 had their limbs blown off

The brothers, both roofers, were watching friend run the marathon
'Ma, I'm hurt real bad,' one of them told their mother from his ambulance
Among the seriously wounded is 11-year-old Aaron Hern, who had shrapnel tear into his leg while he waited for his mother to finish
Man watched his wife lose both her legs and daughter gravely wounded
Three victims, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed
183 victims were injured, with as many as 10 having lost a limb
Nine children were wounded, two of whom had their legs amputated
Victims range from 2 to 71 years old
Patients had as many as 40 pieces of shrapnel inside them
'This is what we expect from war' one doctor said

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER PUBLISHED: 13:41 GMT, 16 April 2013 | UPDATED: 22:21 GMT, 16 April 2013

Two brothers both lost a leg in the Boston Marathon bombings and were among the 183 injured and up to 10 victims who had a limb torn off. Liz Norden said one of her sons called her from his ambulance to say, 'Ma, I'm hurt real bad.' Her sons, both roofers and graduates Stoneham High School, went to the race to watch one of their friends compete in Monday's race. They were among the 183 injured, 23 of whom are still listed in critical condition Tuesday morning. As many as 10 had limbs amputated. There were nine children, the youngest of whom is just 2-years-old, among the wounded. An 11-year-old boy had shrapnel tear into his leg and a nine-year-old girl lost a leg.

Mother Liz Norden, with her two sons Paul and JP, who each lost a leg below the knee during the attack

Anguished mother, Liz Norden, is comforted by Jim Casey, the uncle of her two sons who each lost a leg in the explosions at the Boston Marathon

Brothers Paul and JP Norden were at the marathon to cheer on a friend when they both were blasted with shrapnel. They were rushed to different hospitals where they had to each had to have a leg amputated

Norden raced to the hospital and soon learned that her sons had each lost a leg from below the knee. 'I’d never imagined in my wildest dreams this would *ever happen,' she told the Boston Globe as she struggled to compose herself, surrounded by family members. 'I have two sons in two different hospitals,' she told NBC News. 'I am just so heartbroken.'

Her sons were standing next to Martin Richard, 8, who was among the three killed. Martin's six-year-old sister lost a leg.

Medical workers rush to treat woman laying on the pavement following the explosions

Another of the gravely wounded is 11-year-old Aaron Hern, whose mother, Katherine, was competing in the race. The boy, from Martinez, Calif., had been looking forward to the family trip to Boston. Hewas standing on the street as his father was on the bleachers as they waited for her to finish. 'He was waiting for his mom to go through the finish line to take pictures of her and shortly before she got there, the bomb went off,' family friend Janene Sides said.

Shrapnel tore into his leg, seriously wounding the sixth grader whose 12th birthday is in a couple of weeks. 'Dad was up on the bleachers looking down and the crowd got chaotic and he found him lying down,' Sides told ABC News. Emergency responders quickly applied a tourniquet. Aaron's father was separated from him and his parents did not immediately know which hospital their child had been rushed to.

Aaron is expected to stay in the hospital for one week.

Among the 183 injured is 11-year-old Aaron Hern, who was with his dad when the bomb went off. He was watching his mom run when the shrapnel tore into his leg

Aaron Hern is seen here with his mother, Katherine, who was nearing the finish line when the bombs went off. Shrapnel flew into Aaron's leg as he stood on the street

Kevin Corcoran was with his wife and teenage daughter when the bombs went off. His wife, Celeste, lost both of her legs and his child was badly wounded, the New York Daily News said.'Terrorism ripped apart our family,' his brother, Tim Corcoran, said at a vigil at the the hospital.'He is an emotional mess,' Tim Corcoran said of his brother. 'His wife just lost both her legs. His daughter almost died.'Csilla Schneider said her 24-year-old brother, who also lost his legs and became the subject of a gruesome photo that was shot as he was being led from the scene in a wheelchair.

Mom Celeste Corcoran, here with her daughter Sydney and son Tyler, lost both her legs in the terror attack. Sydney was seriously wounded by shrapnel, according to a relative

Husband Kevin Corcoran is 'an emotional mess' after witnessing his wife lose both her legs and his daughter nearly die

LeAnn Yanni, suffered open leg fractures and her husband, Nick, a pierced ear drum were recovering Tuesday at Tufts Medical Center

'We were about 10 feet from the finish line. It was quite loud,' LeAnn told the Today show.Nick said, 'People were on the ground. A lot of broken limbs – I think I saw a guy with no limbs at all.' Nicole Gross, 31, was behind a fence with her husband, Michael, waiting for her mother to finish when the explosions detonated. According to a family friend who did not want to be identified, Michael Gross posted on his private Facebook account that his wife, a personal trainer at a Charlotte Athletic Club, has compound leg fractures.

Nicole Gross, 31, is covered in dirt and blood and looks on in shock as she is surrounded by a scene of carnage. Gross, a personal trainer from Charlotte, N.C., suffered compound fractures in her legs

Nicole Gross, seen here with her husband Michael, and mother Carol Downing. Nicole and Michael were in Boston to watch Carol race in the marathon

The chief of emergency services at Massachusetts General said he had never seen such horrific injuries in his 25 years of experience. 'This is what we expect from war'

Doctors described treating injuries more commonly seen in the battlefield.Some patients had up to 40 pieces of shrapnel inside of them.'I've never obviously been in combat, but people I've trained with have been and this is as close as I can imagine it would be,' said Dr. Vivek Shah who had just finished competing in the race when the two bombs went off. 'Just, basically piles of victims. Everything I saw was a traumatic amputation, basically.'Shah, an orthopedic surgeon at New England Baptist Hospital in Roxbury Crossing, Mass., said he saw injuries along the sidewalks on Boylston Street.'In all my medical training, I have not seen things that I saw. Everything was traumatic,' Shah told ABC News.

Dr. George Velmahos, a trauma surgeon, at Massachusetts General Hospital said this afternoon, he saw, 'completely mangled and shredded limbs. We found spiked points in many - - like nails without heads.'The EMTs deserve praise for getting them here so fast. Another couple of minutes and some would be dead. The EMTs distributed the patients in a way that no one hospital would be overloaded.'
His colleague, Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said, 'This is something I’ve never seen in my 25 years here . . . this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war.'There are 29 patients at Massachusetts General, eight of whom are in critical condition.

Dr. Michael Epstein, who works in the emergency department at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said at least 24 victims were in their care. The injuries ranged from eardrum damage to those with life-threatening injuries, with some suffering 'extensive damage', he added. Brigham and Women's treated 31 patients, many of whom had orthopedic wounds. Five victims are still listed in critical condition as of Tuesday morning. The youngest patients were taken to Boston Children's Hospital. Seven have been discharged with two remaining in critical condition.
There were also nine patients at Tufts Medical Center.

Destruction: Witnesses are describing how twin bomb blasts turned the 26th mile of the Boston Marathon into a war zone

A man comforts an injured woman on the sidewalk at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon

Witnesses have described how twin bomb blasts turned the 26th mile of the Boston Marathon into a war zone, littering the final stretch of the race with disembodied limbs, wounded runners who lost their legs, and a lone shoe with flesh still in it.

'There were people all over the ground,' said Roupen Bastajian, 35, a state trooper from Smithfield, RI, who had just finished the race.'We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs,' he said, helping victims while still wrapped in his post-race heat blanket.'In 28 years, this is definitely the worst I've seen,' Boston Fire Department District Chief Ron Harrington told NBC News.'Bodies and body parts. Blood all over. A little boy lying in the street. A young woman in her twenties. Both dead. It was mayhem. I saw two people with arms hanging loose, and one without a leg.

Helping hand: An official rushed an injured girl away from the scene of the explosions at the Boston Marathon

The homemade explosives were believed to have been made using pressure cookers and metal ball bearings, designed to look like discarded trash and placed inside black dufflebags. Initial tests showed no use of C-4 or other high-grade explosives, suggesting that the packages detonated in the attack were crude explosive devices, federal law enforcement officials said.The two detonated explosives were packed with metal objects and placed low to the ground, which could explain why so many victims lost feet, calves and ankles in the horrific explosions.Massachusetts General Hospital trauma surgeon George Velmahos said today that a variety of sharp metal fragments were extracted from victims, including pellets and nails. 'The experience has been overwhelming; …we’re suffering emotionally for what happened to the people of Boston and many others,' Velmahos said.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

The bomb that exploded at the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon sent shock waves across the country. Crime scene photos obtained exclusively by FOX 5 Atlanta are the first look at what is left of the first deadly device.

The investigation into the explosion is already well underway, as agents sift through the remaining pieces of the bomb-- hoping to draw a clear picture of how it was built, where it was built, and ultimately, who built it.

<script type='text/javascript' src='http://WAGA.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=10741;hostDomain=www.myfoxatlanta.com;playerWidth=525;playerHeight=296;isShowIcon=true;clipId=8780618;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=Station%25202;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlay'></script><a href="http://www.myfoxatlanta.com" title="Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5 ">Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5 </a>

The Associated Press has reported that the device was a pressure cooker bomb-- common cookware throughout the world. The crime scene pictures obtained by the FOX 5 I-Team show pieces of a stainless steel pressure cooker with an Underwriters Laboratory number. One picture shows the imprint: Gas and Electric.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Vile villain’s deadly payload

Pressure cookers hidden inside bags

By LARRY CELONA, JOSH MARGOLIN and DAN MANGAN
Last Updated: 3:55 AM, April 17, 2013
Posted: 12:54 AM, April 17, 2013

The Boston Marathon bomber used a pair of six-liter pressure cookers packed with metal nails and ball bearings to rip his helpless victims apart at the finish line, authorities said yesterday.

The terrorist put the pots in black nylon bags, and, perhaps, put those bags into light-colored bags, and placed them at viewing areas on Boylston Street, where the blasts killed three and wounded more than 170.

Each bomb was a crude device equipped with a timer, said a law-enforcement source.

A photo obtained by Boston’s 7News, taken about an hour before the blast, suggests one of the hidden bombs was placed inside a light-colored bag next to a mailbox. A follow-up picture taken at the same spot captures the aftermath of the explosion.

GRIM DUTY: Forensics investigators in hazmat suits painstakingly collect pieces of debris yesterday at one of the bomb locations near the Boston Marathon finish line. Two bombs went off within seconds.

The station, which turned the photos over to the FBI, said it blurred part of the second image because it was so graphic.

The details were among many developments yesterday:

* Investigators are trying to identify a white man in his 30s seen on video surveillance at both bombing locations before the blasts, sources told The Post.

But the quality is poor, and they are seeking better-quality videos and photos of the same person.

* A 20-year-old Saudi in Boston on a student visa was ruled out as a suspect after he was questioned in an area hospital.

He was cooperative and a search of his Revere, Mass., apartment came up empty.

* Investigators now believe the bombings are an act of domestic terror, and not connected to overseas groups.

They noted that the attacks were carried out on Patriots Day, which was also tax-return deadline day.

It was also four days before the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

* The slain victims were identified as 8-year-old Martin Richard of Dorcester, Mass., Krystle Campbell, 29, of Arlington, Mass., and Lu Lingzi, 23, a Boston University grad student from China.

* New York City was on high alert yesterday, and the jitters led to 77 suspicious package calls — three times more than normal — with one causing an evacuation of La Guardia Airport’s busy central terminal.

Along Boylston Street — where the two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and up to 100 yards apart — hundreds of federal agents and Boston cops painstakingly collected and documented every item strewn about.

Some wore hazmat suits.

“They started this morning, and a conservative estimate is it will take several days to clear out every item,” said a Boston Police Officer.

“They’re picking up every cup, every banana peel. They’re looking for nails, marbles, pennies, metal balls — anything that could be a component of a bomb.”

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Recipe for disaster: Pressure cookers a savage’s favorite

By JOSH MARGOLIN and JOSH SAUL
From Post Wires
Last Updated: 3:16 AM, April 17, 2013
Posted: 1:11 AM, April 17, 2013

The pressure-cooker bombs that exploded in the viewing area of the Boston Marathon have long been favored by terrorists across the globe.

The two used in Monday’s attack are similar to devices in the failed 2010 Times Square bombing and the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 200 people, officials said.

“They’re made out of stainless steel and the whole idea is the pressure builds up and when it explodes it rips the metal into shrapnel . . . And it all fits in a duffle bag,” said Matthew Horace, retired special agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Newark.

Crime scene photos obtained exclusively by FOX 5 Atlanta are the first look at what is left of the FIRST deadly device that detonated at the Boston Marathon. MUST CREDIT: FOX 5 ATLANTA

“This is done just to harm people. It’s the explosive pressure that explodes out and tears the metal at like 200 mph.”

Pressure cookers have become terrorists’ bomb casing of choice because security teams usually remove garbage cans and mailboxes in advance of high-profile or sensitive events, Horace added.

Pressure cookers are common in South Asia and the Middle East and don’t usually arouse suspicion there, according to an Interagency Counter Terrorism Task Force advisory sent out to NYPD and other first-responders yesterday.

But because the cooking appliances are less common in the United States, “the presence of a pressure cooker in an unusual location such as a building lobby or busy street corner should be treated as suspicious,” the advisory said.

When American citizen Faisal Shahzad tried to blow up Times Square with a SUV-load of explosives in 2010, he used a pressure-cooker bomb packed with 120 firecrackers as part of the payload.

Authorities also found two pressure cookers — along with other bomb-making materials — in the Texas hotel room of Naser Jason Abdo, an Army private arrested in 2011 for allegedly plotting to blow up a restaurant full of GIs.

The inexpensive bomb casings are used with greater frequency outside the United States, especially in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

To build a pressure-cooker bomb, terrorists surround an explosive with metal objects such as nuts and bolts or nails — to act as shrapnel — and use a cellphone, digital watch or garage-door opener to detonate the device.

Pressure cookers were regularly used in Afghanistan to attack US and coalition forces.

Al Qaeda’s Yemen branch provided detailed descriptions of how to build a pressure-cooker bomb in a 2010 issue of its magazine “Inspire,” in an article titled, “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom.”

White supremacists also have circulated copies of the al Qaeda magazine on their Web forums, according to the SITE Monitoring Service, a US independent group tracking online militant messaging.

In 1976, a pressure-cooker bomb hidden near Grand Central Terminal exploded as an NYPD Bomb Squad tried to defuse it, killing one cop and injuring three.

Additional reporting by Beth DeFalco

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Boston Marathon bombings: Third victim identified as Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi

Lu, a Boston University student was being mourned by friends of her Facebook page.

BY DAVID KNOWLES / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013, 10:32 PM
UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013, 6:05 AM

<img title=" The Shenyang Evening News reported Wednesday morning that Lingzi Lu is the third the victim. An editor at the newspaper says that Lu's father confirmed her death.
" itemprop="associatedMedia" alt=" Boston Marathon bombing victim and Boston University student Lingzi Lu. " src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1318954.1366184223!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/lingzi-lu-1.jpg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" height="578" width="635">

LINGZI LU VIA FACEBOOK

The Shenyang Evening News reported Wednesday morning that Lingzi Lu is the third the victim. An editor at the newspaper says that Lu's father confirmed her death.

A clearer portrait emerged early Wednesday morning of the victims of the horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon. The third person killed is being identified as a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China’s northeastern city of Shenyang, a state-run Chinese newspaper reported.

LINGZI LU VIA FACEBOOK

Friends of Lingzi Lu, who was born in Beijing, were asking for help via social media as she never returned to the school following the marathon.

The Shenyang Evening News said on its official Twitter-like microblog account that the victim’s name is Lu Lingzi. An editor at the newspaper said that Lu’s father confirmed his daughter’s death when reporters visited the family home. The editor declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to foreign media.

FACEBOOK

Facebook comments of grief on shares of a photo of Boston University student Lingzi Lu on her Facebook page.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York are not releasing the victim’s name at the request of the family. But on Tuesday, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lu Lingzi was missing in the wake of Monday’s bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

3rd Boston victim named as Chinese grad student Lu Lingzi
Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2013-04-17 11:13

Lu Lingzi. (Internet photo)

The third victim in Monday's Boston Marathon blasts was identified Tuesday as Lu Lingzi, a Chinese overseas student, according to consular officials.

Officials from the Chinese consulate in New York confirmed Tuesday that another student, Zhou Danling, was injured but in a stable condition.

The two were together with a third Chinese graduate student and friend watching the race near the finish line, where one of the bombs went off. The third student, currently unidentified, is unharmed, according to consulate reports.

The officials said they are doing everything they can to help relatives of the victims come to the United States.

Lu was an undergraduate from the Beijing Institute of Technology who was attending Boston University for graduate studies in statistics, according to the Hong-Kong based Phoenix TV news.

Zhou underwent two surgical procedures after being admitted to Boston Medical Center, and is now in a stable condition.

The other two victims of the explosions, which are being treated by US President Barack Obama as acts of terrorism, have been identified as 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and eight-year-old Martin Richard. Over 140 people were injured by the blasts.

MrBlueSky · Apr 17, 2013

Chinese graduate, 23, was 'living her dream of studying in the U.S' when bomb killed her: Third Boston victim named as vigils held

Third victim of Boston marathon bombing named by her devastated father in China as 23-year-old Lü Lingzi
The graduate student at Boston University, originally from Beijing, was attending the race with two other friends
One friend, Zhou Danling, was badly injured in the attack - although she has reportedly regained consciousness
The other two fatalities are eight-year-old Martin Richard and 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell
Series of candlelit vigils held throughout the city and beyond as hundreds of people honour the dead and injured
Investigators sift through 2,000 tips as FBI says Saudi suspect ruled out and admits range of suspects is 'wide open'
MBTA authorities say commuters will be subject to random searches as transport chiefs help FBI investigation

By Daily Mail Reporter and Daniel Bates In Boston, Massachusetts
PUBLISHED: 06:43 GMT, 17 April 2013 | UPDATED: 09:27 GMT, 17 April 2013

The third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University who came to the U.S. because it was her 'dream to get a better education.' Identified by her father in China as Lü Lingzi, the tragic student was pursuing a graduate degree at Boston University (BU) in Mathematics and Statistics.

Lingzi was attending the Boston marathon with her friend Zhou Danling, a student of actuarial science at BU, who was originally said to be in a coma at Boston Medical Center but showing signs of improvement after suffering serious injuries in the blast. The other two fatalities in the bombing have been identified as 8-year-old Martin Richard, the son of a Dorchester community activist, and 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell.

As the latest official tally suggested 183 people were injured and three killed in Monday's terror attacks, hundreds of people gathered to hold candlelit vigils in tribute to the victims.

The third victim of the Boston marathon has been identified as Lü Lingzi, pictured, from Beijing, who was pursuing a graduate degree at BU in Mathematics and Statistics

Vigils were held across the city as FBI investigators admitted their range of suspects remained 'wide open'. At a press conference yesterday afternoon, the FBI agent in charge, Rick DesLauriers, said they had received more than 2,000 tips and detectives were working round the clock as forensic specialists examined evidence from the scene.

Meanwhile friends of the third victim spoke of their shock at hearing of her death.

Speaking to the MailOnline before Lü's death was officially confirmed, her best friend Li Luquan, 23, said, 'Lingzi went to the marathon with three friends, one of whom was Zhou Danling and another girl who came home safe.

'Lingzi did not come home on Monday night and I called the police and notified the Chinese consulate. 'She's my best friend, I miss her so much. We were roommates for two years at university in China. All her friends here miss her very much. 'Nobody knows where she is.'

The Shenyang Evening News reported Wednesday on its official Twitter-like microblog account that the victim is named Lü Lingzi. An editor at the newspaper says that Lü's father confirmed his daughter's death

One of the vigils was held at Garvey Park, near the home of the youngest victim, eight-year-old Martin Richard, who died while waiting to see his father cross the finish line

United in their grief: An inter-faith vigil was held at Arlington Street Church, close to Boylston Street where the two bombs detonated on Monday

On Tuesday the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York said they were not releasing the victim's name at the request of the family. But later on Tuesday, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lü Lingzi was missing in the wake of the bombings that killed three and wounded more than 180 people. Li Luquan, who is an operations research student at New Jersey State University said that Lü was studying hard at BU and enjoyed cooking, going to the gym and to play the piano.

Zhou Danling is in a coma after she was injured by the explosion at the marathon

'She came the the US last August and studied at Boston University because she wanted a better education. America has a better education system and better research opportunities,' Luquan told MailOnline.

'Coming to America to study was her dream. She was living her dream. 'In the future she might stay in the US or go back to China. She said she might work for a big company in America. 'She has an aunt who lives elsewhere in the US and I think she has come to Boston to find her.'

Earlier on Tuesday, Colin Riley, a BU spokesman had declined to release the student's name pending a discussion with her family. On Wednesday however, The Shenyang Evening News reported her name on its official Twitter-like microblog account. The Associated Press reported that an editor at the newspaper said that Lingzi's father confirmed his daughter's death when reporters visited the family home.

According to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, BU did confirm that three of their students had attended the marathon and that one was sadly deceased, one was injured and another escaped unharmed. Danling Zhou, who was reported to have fallen into a coma, was now doing well and was conscious. 'She has her friends around her, and she will soon have family around her,' said Riley.

The Chinese Consulate in New York had earlier confirmed that Zhou Danling was injured and a survivor of the attacks which killed two others and left 183 others injured. 'She cannot talk now but can communicate with pen and paper,' the consulate said in an e-mailed statement previously on Tuesday. In that earlier statement, the consulate said another Chinese student, identified by the consulate as Lü Lingzi, was still missing.

'We are following the case closely and are trying to reach our colleagues in Boston. I believe they will release further information on site if anything comes up,' the consulate said, adding 'Our hearts goes out to all the families who had been affected.'

Motaro · Apr 18, 2013

Investigators working to ID suspect in Boston Marathon terror attack: report

From POST WIRE SERVICES
Last Updated: 3:00 PM, April 17, 2013
Posted: 1:08 PM, April 17, 2013
AP

The explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Authorities are working to identify the Boston Marathon terror attack suspect, though there are conflicting reports about the man's arrest.

Investigators allegedly identified the suspect through security video shot from a nearby department store, local and federal law enforcement sources told CNN.

Footage from Lord & Taylor, on the same Boylston Street block torn apart by blasts Monday, led investigators to a man believed to have planted the second bomb, according to the network.

Federal officials denied a suspect was under arrest. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press earlier in the day that a suspect was in custody. The FBI and the US attorney's office in Boston said that no arrests had been made.

The Boston Globe has reported that authorities had an image of a suspect carrying, and possibly dropping, a bag at the second bombing scene, just outside the Forum restaurant.

The alleged bomber was on a phone when he dropped the second backpack and his cell records reportedly led to the identification, sources told CBS.

Authorities said yesterday the bomber used a pair of six-liter pressure cookers packed with metal nails and ball bearings to rip his helpless victims apart at the finish line.

The terrorist put the pots in black nylon bags, and, perhaps, put those bags into light-colored bags, and placed them at viewing areas on Boylston Street, where the blasts killed three and wounded more than 170.

Each bomb was a crude device equipped with a timer, said a law-enforcement source.

A photo obtained by Boston’s 7News, taken about an hour before the blast, suggests one of the hidden bombs was placed inside a light-colored bag next to a mailbox. A follow-up picture taken at the same spot captures the aftermath of the explosion.

The station, which turned the photos over to the FBI, said it blurred part of the second image because it was so graphic.

This morning, the lid of a pressure cooker was found on a roof near the scene, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Hundreds of federal agents and Boston cops painstakingly collected and documented every item strewn about after two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and up to 100 yards apart along Boylston Street Monday.

The Lord and Taylor store on Boylston Street.

Two blasts at Boston marathon kill three and injure more than 100

Alfrescian (InfP)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (InfP)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Alfrescian (Inf)

Similar threads