Boston Marathon blasts 'heinous and cowardly'
Source: Agencies |
April 17, 2013, Wednesday
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The explosives that killed three people and wounded more than 170 at the Boston Marathon were made of pressure cookers packed with metal and ball bearings, a person briefed on the investigation said yesterday. President Barack Obama declared the bombings an act of terrorism.
The dead included eight-year-old Martin Richard. His mother and sister were also injured.
Obama, speaking to reporters at the White House, said authorities still don't know who is responsible and officials said no one had claimed responsibility. He called the bombing "a heinous and cowardly act" used to target innocent civilians.
The chief FBI agent in Boston vowed "we will go to the ends of the Earth" to find whoever carried out the deadly attack on one of the city's most famous civic holidays, Patriots Day.
A person briefed on the attack, which left the streets splattered with blood and glass, said the explosives were in six-liter pressure cookers and in black duffel bags placed on the ground. The bags contained shards of metal, nails and ball bearings.
Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in Boston, said earlier that investigators had received "voluminous tips" and were interviewing witnesses and analyzing the crime scene.
"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," he said.
A security official said initial evidence indicated that the attacks were not the work of suicide bombers.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has threatened attacks in the US because of its support for the Pakistani government, denied any role in the bombings.
The explosions took place about 10 seconds and about 90 meters apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route.
Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called the bombing a "cruel act of terror." He said that any event with explosive devices is clearly an act of terror and he promised that a thorough investigation will determine whether the perpetrators were foreign or domestic.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said no unexploded bombs had been found at the marathon site. He said the only explosives were the ones that went off on Monday.
Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, Rhode Island, had just finished the race when he heard the explosions.
"I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated."
At Massachusetts General Hospital, 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."
WBZ-TV reported that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere.
Investigators were seen leaving the Revere house early yesterday carrying brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag.
The dead included eight-year-old Martin Richard. His mother and sister were also injured.
Obama, speaking to reporters at the White House, said authorities still don't know who is responsible and officials said no one had claimed responsibility. He called the bombing "a heinous and cowardly act" used to target innocent civilians.
The chief FBI agent in Boston vowed "we will go to the ends of the Earth" to find whoever carried out the deadly attack on one of the city's most famous civic holidays, Patriots Day.
A person briefed on the attack, which left the streets splattered with blood and glass, said the explosives were in six-liter pressure cookers and in black duffel bags placed on the ground. The bags contained shards of metal, nails and ball bearings.
Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in Boston, said earlier that investigators had received "voluminous tips" and were interviewing witnesses and analyzing the crime scene.
"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," he said.
A security official said initial evidence indicated that the attacks were not the work of suicide bombers.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has threatened attacks in the US because of its support for the Pakistani government, denied any role in the bombings.
The explosions took place about 10 seconds and about 90 meters apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route.
Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called the bombing a "cruel act of terror." He said that any event with explosive devices is clearly an act of terror and he promised that a thorough investigation will determine whether the perpetrators were foreign or domestic.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said no unexploded bombs had been found at the marathon site. He said the only explosives were the ones that went off on Monday.
Roupen Bastajian, a state trooper from Smithfield, Rhode Island, had just finished the race when he heard the explosions.
"I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated."
At Massachusetts General Hospital, 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."
WBZ-TV reported that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere.
Investigators were seen leaving the Revere house early yesterday carrying brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag.
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