While an spectators watched as runners raced towards the finish line, two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, killing two people and injuring many more.

Footage from the scene showed people fleeing and an enormous cloud of white smoke after two blasts detonated seemingly 20 seconds apart. The race began at 10 a.m., and the explosions were reported just before 3 p.m.

A signature event in Boston running since 1897 on Patriots Day, the third Monday in April, the Boston Marathon drew tens of  thousands attendees.

Race organizers said that almost 27,000 runners competed, representing 96 countries. The winners were Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia for the men and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya for the women. A special marker at  the 26th mile of the course, yards from the finish, had been set up to  honor the 26 dead in the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting last  December.

 

Eye-witnesses described the mayhem as followed:

“We saw two big puffs. I thought maybe it was fireworks. Then it went  off again. And then all of a sudden we heard people crying and running  away,” said Serghino Rene, who was a few blocks away. “It was a huge horde of people just running away.”

Steve Silva, a photographer for The Boston Globe, described “injuries nothing short of horrific.” Jackie Bruno, a reporter for New England Cable News, said on Twitter that she saw people’s legs blown off.
Dr. Alisdair Conn, chief of emergency medicine at Mass General, characterized the blasts as a military-style bombing. “This is like a bomb explosion we hear about in the news in Baghdad or Israel,” he told reporters.

Will Ritter, the spokesman for Massachusetts Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez, who was running the race, told NBC News that he heard what sounded like two explosions and saw smoke rising near the Boston Public Library. He said that he saw three fire engines and police running to the site.

“We heard two really large explosions in rapid succession, about a second apart from each other,” Ritter said. “Everybody kind of ducked and hit the ground.”

Another witness told WHDH that it sounded like cannon fire.

According to officials, three bombs were scheduled to detonate:
A third, undetonated device was found near the finish line, a House Homeland Security Committee official and three law enforcement officials told NBC News. Authorities also reported an explosion at the John F. Kennedy presidential library, elsewhere in the city,  more than an hour after the blasts, but police said that it appeared to be caused by a fire. The police commissioner  urged people in Boston to stay inside.

 

As investigators ransacked the town, they found evidence of more mayhem.

Suspicious packages were found after the blasts at three Boston subway stops, and authorities were investigating. New York police deployed extra security to landmarks, Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed to foot traffic, and the Pentagon tightened security. San Francisco put its police on heightened alert.

Federal authorities briefly grounded flights at the Boston airport as a precaution.

 

Although it’s early, this maybe an act of terrorism:

The Obama administration was in  touch with state and local authorities, a White House official told NBC  News. Obama directed the administration to provide whatever help was  necessary, the official said.
Evan Kohlmann, a terrorism analyst for NBC News, said that authorities would probably examine residue from the blasts to determine their type.

Adding that it was premature to identify a culprit, he said: “If this was a deliberate act, unfortunately it certainly would reflect something that we’re seeing. There’s an emphasis on these soft targeted attacks now. We’re moving away from the spectacular attacks and we’re moving into the small grade, homegrown attacks.”

Federal officials told NBC News that Boston police were guarding a “possible suspect” who had been wounded in the blasts, but they cautioned that there was no information at the federal level to consider that person a suspect.

 

The number of injured civialians quickly rose.

At the marathon, police said at least 23 people had been injured, but the count from hospitals was much higher. Boston Medical Center said it was treating 20 patients, including two children. Massachusetts General Hospital had 22 patients, Tufts Medical Center nine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital as many as 20.

By Carla St. Louis (SheWrites007)

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#Terrorism

#BostonMarathon

Source: NBCNews