US investigators on Tuesday pledged to go “to the ends of the Earth” to find those behind the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 170, many with horrific injuries.
Boston’s Boylston Street, scene of the finish line carnage on Monday, remained sealed off as investigators sought leads in the worst attack in the United States since the September 11, 2001 atrocities.
President Barack Obama vowed that the attackers “will feel the full weight of justice”, police searched the apartment of one “person of interest” and a Saudi man remained under guard in hospital. But there were no convincing answers for a city in mourning.
No suspect was in custody though several people were being questioned in the Boston area, but the hunt was expected to expand to other countries, police and FBI officials said.
“This will be a worldwide investigation,” said Rick DesLauriers, head of the FBI’s Boston office. “We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects responsible for this despicable crime,” he added. “We are using the full capacities of the FBI, to its fullest worldwide extent.”
The two bombs, which were 13 seconds and about 100 metres apart, killed three people and injured 176, with 17 people in critical condition, Boston police commissioner Ed Davis told reporters. The dead and injured were aged between two and 71 and included nine children. Among the dead was an eight-year-old boy, Martin Richard, who had been waiting at the finish for his father to cross the line. His mother suffered grievous brain injuries and his sister lost a leg. The bombs sent metal shrapnel flying into the crowd of thousands of people packing Boylston Street, ripping the limbs of many victims, doctors said. Liz Norden tearfully told the Boston Globe how two of her sons, both in their 30s, lost legs in the blast.
Most of the 23,000 runners in the 26.2-mile (42-km) race had finished when the first bomb went off behind a row of national flags, sending out a powerful shockwave. One 78-year-old runner, Bill Igriff, was blown to the ground and many bloodied spectators were pushed by the force through barriers onto the street. Igriff got up again and walked away with just scratches.
“We saw people with their legs blown off,” Mark Hagopian, owner of the Charlesmark Hotel near the scene, told AFP. “A person next to me had his legs blown off at the knee — he was still alive.”
Boston relived the horror in the many videos taken with telephone cameras that investigators also pored over in the hunt. Police appealed for the public to send in pictures or videos.
While vigils and other remembrance ceremonies were to be held, armed National Guard troops and police patrolled Boston commuter trains and buses and authorities warned that tight security would be imposed for several days. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and several other major US cities also put extra police on the streets. US defence secretary Chuck Hagel told legislators on Tuesday that the bombings appeared to be a “cruel act of terror”. “There were no intelligence warnings that we know of.” — AFP