Explosion reported near Boston Marathon

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**Frazzled**

whembly wrote:
According to the NYP:

A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. Fox News reported that Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold.

Authorities have a identified a suspect, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds.

And oh... feth Alex Jones.

They have a suspect already?

**whembly**

filbert wrote:
whembly wrote:

Also... the authorities has shut down Cell Towers in Boston? Why? To stop further terrorist communication?

Because bombs can be triggered remotely via cell phone.

Oh... duh.

Then if I'm not too forward... that's a sign of sophistication that this may be in fact a terrorist attack from a major group...right?

**Dreadclaw69**

Frazzled wrote:
They have a suspect already?

If the internet rumour mill is to believed he is a Saudi national. Which would fit the multiple devices, including simultaneous detonation (Al Queda hallmark), but runs contrary to what the intelligence reports are supposed to have said.

**Gorskar.da.Lost**

Frazzled wrote:
whembly wrote:
According to the NYP:

A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. Fox News reported that Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold.

Authorities have a identified a suspect, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds.

And oh... feth Alex Jones.

They have a suspect already?

If idiocy is a crime, they've got the bludger dead to rights. Bloody fool, I loathe stuff like that.
If that was a serious question, then no, not as yet. Just some crackpot asshat called Alex Jones spouting conspiracy theories already.

**whembly**

d-usa wrote:
My brother reports the following description from the German media:

"Boston, a charming American small-town..."

Small town?!?!?!

o.O

**d-usa**

whembly wrote:
filbert wrote:
whembly wrote:

Also... the authorities has shut down Cell Towers in Boston? Why? To stop further terrorist communication?

Because bombs can be triggered remotely via cell phone.

Oh... duh.

Then if I'm not too forward... that's a sign of sophistication that this may be in fact a terrorist attack from a major group...right?

I don't think so.

It would appear that if you know how to use a timer or anything else to set off a bomb then you should be able to use a cell phone. With no background in this whatsoever I would think that you would simply connect a speaker or something else that would generate electricity when a phone gets called as the trigger.

**Dreadclaw69**

whembly wrote:
Then if I'm not too forward... that's a sign of sophistication that this may be in fact a terrorist attack from a major group...right?

Cell phones and simultaneous detonations, and multiple devices, are hallmarks of Al Queda and their affiliates. Especially in Iraq.

**d-usa**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
They have a suspect already?

If the internet rumour mill is to believed he is a Saudi national. Which would fit the multiple devices, including simultaneous detonation (Al Queda hallmark), but runs contrary to what the intelligence reports are supposed to have said.

I have not seen anything mentioned. Although it would not surprise me if people would look for the Muslim/Arabic person initially. Like I said, my personal experience from participating in a drill was that "the foreign guy did it" seems to be a default position.

**whembly**

Video of a camera man right on the finish line during the explosion.
http://bcove.me/qwi5k6ap
Hol-e-smokes!

**timetowaste85**

Alfndrate wrote:
Radio station just mentioned they were looking for a third bomb at the Mandarin hotel, d-usa, is that the third explosion?

Holy gak, I stayed at that hotel a few years ago. I found out about the bombing from a friend-thoughts to out to the victims. I hope they catch the perpetrators.

**Grey Templar**

So now they're back to saying the JFK library was NOT an explosive device and is an unrelated fire.

**d-usa**

Library fire downgraded to "not related" again it seems.

**Mr. Burning**

Just heard about this on the news. A sad day indeed.

My thoughts go out to the victims and the families at this time. when the dust settles I hope the perpetrators are exposed and brought to justice.

**Gorskar.da.Lost**

Alright, so, the Beeb have moved on to speculating about causes and culprits, though it's nice to see they're not focussing on any particular groups.

**Wolf**

Dayumn that video is crazy, there is a longer one that shows the explosion going off as runners are crossing the line.

I'm glad to hear you are ok MGS

**whembly**

Here's the map:

**MeanGreenStompa**

They just denied they are holding anyone at this time.

**whembly**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
They just denied they are holding anyone at this time.

It's because they haven't arrested anyone yet. They're careful about that... what they'll say is, we have a "person of interest" on hand.

**d-usa**

Do we have any confirmed news sources saying that there is a person of interest?

**Grey Templar**

I haven't seen any claims of a person of interest.

**Dreadclaw69**

d-usa wrote:
Do we have any confirmed news sources saying that there is a person of interest?

I don't believe anything has been confirmed by law enforcement as yet but there are reports similar to this;
http://beforeitsnews.com/global-unrest/2013/04/police-identify-saudi-muslim-terror-suspect-in-boston-bombing-2454690.html

A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. Fox News reported that Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold.

Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned. Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect was under guard at an undisclosed Boston hospital.

It was not immediately clear why the man was hospitalized and whether he was injured in the attack or in his apprehension. The man was caught less than two hours after the 2:50 p.m. bombing on the finish line of the race, in the heart of Boston.

Authorities have a identified a suspect, a Saudi national, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds. Law-enforcement sources said at least the first explosion occurred in the lobby of a nearby hotel.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/authorities_under_suspect_guard_y2m8cJO29uC2PDGIjYBalO

Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned.

Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect was under guard at an undisclosed Boston hospital.

Fox News reported that the suspect suffered severe burns.

It was not immediately clear why the man was hospitalized and whether he was injured in the attack or in his apprehension.

The man was caught less than two hours after the 2:50 p.m. bombing on the finish line of the race, in the heart of Boston.

**d-usa**

Keeps on jumping back and forth from other sources (no idea if this is a nut-job source of not):

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boston-police-no-arrests-have-been-made-in

A spokesperson for the Boston Police Department said no suspects have been taken into custody yet after the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

"At this time, we haven't been notified of any arrests or anyone apprehended," the spokesperson said.

The New York Post reported that a "Saudi national who suffered shrapnel wounds in today's blast" has been identified as "a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing." The Boston PD spokesperson did not confirm that report.

"Honestly, I don't know where they're getting their information from, but it didn't come from us," said the spokesperson.

The Post report was attributed to "a law enforcement source." According to the Post, the "suspect" is "currently being guarded in a Boston hospital."

Update (5:27 PM): A spokesperson with the FBI's national press office in Washington DC declined to comment when asked about reports a suspect or person of interest had been identified in the bombings.

Update (5:39 PM): NBC News is also reporting there is a "possible suspect" being guarded at a Boston hospital. After that report, a spokesperson for the Boston Police Department reiterated that they had "no confirmation" of any possible suspect in custody.

"They didn't obtain that information from us," the spokesperson said of the NBC report.

But any event like this will have lots of news jumping around all over the place for quite a while.

**Dreadclaw69**

The joys of news in the digital age, were speed is more important than accuracy

**d-usa**

Looks like Boston PD just denied again that there is anybody in custody, but also gave the stock answer of "we have police everywhere talking to a lot of people...".

**chapgrimaldus**

Words escape me all I know it pisses me off to no end and my heart goes out to the victims

**Hlaine Larkin mk2**

According to NBC Sportscast, athletes went from finishing straight to the hospital to donate blood

I also echo Albatrosses' sentiment about the IRA

whembly wrote:
d-usa wrote:
My brother reports the following description from the German media:

"Boston, a charming American small-town..."

Small town?!?!?!

o.O

Possible they mistook it for Boston England. As had been said earlier speed is often top of the list

EDIT: The Bruins game against the Senators has also been cancelled as a result

**whembly**

d-usa wrote:
Looks like Boston PD just denied again that there is anybody in custody, but also gave the stock answer of "we have police everywhere talking to a lot of people...".

Right... they may have the right people, but don't have enough to make an arrest. So the PD needs to either deny or state they have "person of interests".

They're doing their job... we all need to step back and let them.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
According to NBC Sportscast, athletes went from finishing straight to the hospital to donate blood

As far as I'm concerned... those runners are fething heros.

**Eggs**

Thoughts go out to the victims. Terrorism is pretty much the most cowardly act a person can commit. Hope those responsible are made to suffer. A lot.

**Albatross**

A lot of fair trials, habeas corpus and humane punishment, or...?

**Pacific**

Well, goes without saying that this is horrific.

Seeing that many people packed together with the explosion? Obviously we are not dealing with a plastic explosive, or non home-made bomb, you could quite easily imagine the fatality figure running towards triple figures otherwise.

So something home made perhaps, and some kind of fringe extremist group? When I first heard about the library explosion my thoughts immediately turned to religious fundamentalists of whichever denomination, although I've since read that the 'explosion' there was possibly just a fire.