Police search for motive, suspects in Boston blasts

TUESDAY UPDATE: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says no unexploded bombs were found at the Boston Marathon. He says the only explosives were the ones that went off Monday.

Three people were killed, including an 8-year-old boy, by two explosions just seconds apart near the finish line.

Police commissioner Ed Davis says 176 victims came to hospitals around Boston, and 17 of those are in critical condition.

Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers says at a news conference there are no known additional threats.

Police commissioner Ed Davis says it is the most complex crime scene in history of the department.

Authorities are looking for amateur video and photographic evidence that can give clues to who set off the bombs.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley says "what occurred in Boston was an act of cowardice."

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BALL BEARINGS IN BOMBS

Two bombs packed with ball bearings tore through crowds near the finish of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and triggering a massive hunt for those behind an attack the White House said would be treated as "an act of terror".

Officials said more than 100 people were wounded by the devices, which were packed with gunpowder and shrapnel to maximise injuries, according a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who declined to be named.

"I saw people who looked like they had their legs blown off. There was a lot of blood over their legs. Then people were being pushed in wheelchairs," said Joe Anderson, 33, a fisherman from Pembroke, Massachusetts, who had just run the race holding a large U.S. flag.

Some victims would require further surgery in the coming days, said Peter Fagenholz, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.

"We're seeing a lot of shrapnel injuries" from small metal debris, Fagenholz told reporters outside the hospital. Doctors treated 29 people, of whom eight were in a critical condition.

An eight-year-old boy was among the dead, the Boston Globe reported, citing two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. A two-year-old was being treated at Boston Children's Hospital for a head wound, the hospital said.

White House officials and investigators said it was too early to say whether the Boston attacks were carried out by a foreign or homegrown group or to identify a motive.

The attack was the worst bombing on American soil since far-right militant and U.S. citizen Timothy McVeigh set off a massive truck bomb that destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.

Two years earlier, Islamist militants bombed the twin towers of the World trade Center, killing six people and wounding more than 1,000.

President Barack Obama said those responsible would "feel the full weight of justice" and the White House said it was handling the incident as "an act of terror."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was leading the manhunt on Tuesday, alongside battery of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

"It is a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation," said Richard DesLauriers, the FBI special agent in charge for Boston.

Agents searched an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere late on Monday, local media reported but did not elaborate.

VIDEO:

MAJOR CITIES ON ALERT

Many runners were heading for the finish some four hours into the race when the first bomb detonated, sending up a fireball and smoke from behind cheering spectators and a row of flags representing the countries of participants.

World-class runners had long finished the race but the initial blast, followed moments later by a second, caught scores of other competitors and spectators.

The blasts put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C., and New York City, sites of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The annual Boston Marathon, held since 1897, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

Organizers in the British capital said the London Marathon would go ahead on Sunday despite the Boston attack, but security was being reviewed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Joined world leaders in condemning the blasts.

"Nothing can justify such an insidious attack on people who had come together for a peaceful sports event. I hope that the person or people guilty (of this attack) can be brought to justice," she said in a statement.

Search the Boston Marathon entry list

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PRIOR COVERAGE:

The White House does not yet know who planned and carried out explosions at the Boston marathon but is handling the incident as "an act of terror," a White House official said on Monday.

"Any event with multiple explosive devices - as this appears to be - is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror," the official said.

"However, we don't yet know who carried out this attack, and a thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned and carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic," the official said.

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UPDATE:

President Barack Obama will deliver a statement on the explosions in Boston at 6:10 P.M. EDT (2210 GMT) on Monday, the White House said.

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UPDATE:

President Barack Obama was briefed on Monday by FBI Director Bob Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the ongoing investigation of twin explosions that hit the Boston Marathon.

A White House official said Obama was told about the "active investigation and response to the incident in Boston" as well as the ongoing coordination with state and local officials.

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UPDATE:

More than 100 people were treated at area hospitals after explosions following the Boston Marathon on Monday, the Boston Globe reported on Twitter.

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BOSTON - Two simultaneous explosions ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people and injuring dozens on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch the world famous race.

Runners were heading for the finish when a fireball and smoke rose from behind cheering spectators and a row of flags representing the countries of participants, video from the scene showed. Other pictures showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down.

An hour after the 2:50 p.m. EDT (1850 GMT) blasts in Boston's Copley Square marred the usually joyous end to the marathon, a fire erupted at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library three miles (5 km) away, but no one was injured, police said.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told a news conference the authorities were not certain whether the fire, possibly started by an incendiary device, was related.

Two high-level U.S. law enforcement officials said one or more bombs caused the explosions at the scene of the marathon, which is run annually on the state holiday Patriots' Day.

"It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven't stopped shaking yet," said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.

The blasts put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C. where President Barack Obama was briefed by security personnel.

Three Boston area-hospitals contacted by Reuters reported a total of at least 51 hurt. Some of those may have been hospitalized for treatment from running the marathon. The Boston Globe newspaper reported on Twitter that more than 100 people were hurt, but it did not provide a source for the information.

Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the finish line, and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.

"Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying," the Boston Globe's Steve Silva reported from the scene, the Globe said on Twitter.

The two explosions were about 50 to 100 yards (metres) apart as runners crossed the finish line with a timer showing 4 hours and 9 minutes, some 9 minutes faster than the average finish time, as reported by Runner's World magazine.

Of the 23,326 runners who started the race on Monday, 17,584 finished before the blast, marathon officials said. The runners were diverted before officials brought the marathon to a halt.

Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion."

Smoke rose 50 feet (15 metres) in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.

"Everybody freaked out," Mitchell said.

Massive Response

"Every asset of the Commonwealth (state) of Massachusetts and the federal government is either here or coming here," Governor Deval Patrick told reporters.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department, Homeland Security Department and other agencies were all lending assistance to the investigation, authorities said.

Obama directed his administration to provide whatever assistance was necessary, the White House said. Obama was being briefed by Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and other staff, the White House said.

Spectators typically line the 26.2 mile (42.19 km) race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line.

The transit agency shut down all service to the area, citing police activity, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration temporarily restricted airspace over the scene, a spokesman said.

The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriot's Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897. The event, which starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and ends in Boston's Copley Square, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra cancelled Monday night's concert and the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins canceled their home game against the Ottawa Senators.

Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo won the men's and women's events, continuing African runners' dominance in the sport.