Expert says "Boston bombing 'used pressure cooker
packed with metal'"
Federal
investigators involved in one of the largest manhunts in US history have
revealed that the Boston marathon bombs that killed three people and injured
more than 170 may been made from pressure cookers packed with ball bearings and
nails.
More than
1,000 law enforcement officials from 30 state and federal agencies have now
been committed to tracking down whoever was responsible for Monday's twin
blasts, the worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11. The forensic examination
of the crime scene has begun to bear fruit, though officials concede that they
still have no suspects and no motive for the bombing.
FBI agents
leading the investigation are pitting their hopes on the public as they believe
the instigator of the attack may well have revealed themselves to others.
"The person who did this is someone's friend, co-worker or relative.
Someone knows who did this," said Rick DesLauriers, special agent in
charge of the Boston FBI, which is leading the investigation.
Forensic
examiners have recovered fragments of black nylon cloth they believe to have
come from backpacks used to carry both bombs. They have also found what
DesLauriers described as "fragments of nails that could have been
contained in a pressure cooker". He added that he was talking about a
basic household pressure cooker of the sort found in many kitchens.
The devices
exploded at about 2.50pm on Monday, within seconds of each other and 50 metres
apart, causing a current casualty toll of 176 injured, 17 critically, and three
dead. Two of the dead have been named: Martin Richard, an eight-year-old boy
from Boston's Dorchester neighbourhood, and Krystle Campbell, 29, who had been
at the finish line to watch her boyfriend complete the race. The Chinese
consulate in New York said that the third fatal victim was a Chinese citizen
whose identity was not being made public at the request of their family.
In a
statement from the White House briefing room, President Barack Obama underlined
the lack of hard information about what he called the "heinous" acts
in Boston, but pointedly made clear the US was now viewing it as "an act
of terror".
"We do
not know if this was an act of an organisation, an individual or individuals,
and we don't have a sense of motive yet," he said. "Everything else
is speculation."
Obama will
travel to Boston on Thursday to attend a multi-faith service for the victims,
the White House said.
As details
of the bomb devices began to emerge, the full horror of the incident became
clearer. Investigators said the blast sites were massive, with debris found on
nearby rooftops and embedded in the walls of buildings.
Several of
the injured underwent amputations overnight – four at Massachusetts General
hospital alone. It was also revealed that the devices had been packed with
metal fragments and placed close to the ground, leading to a high number of
amputations and serious lower body injuries.
George
Velmahos, chief trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital – where many
of the injured were taken – said nails and pellets were removed from the bodies
of those hit in the blast.
Detectives
clearly think that the heavy nature of the backpacks carried by the bomber or
bombers could provide an essential clue that might trigger someone's memory.
"We are postulating they would need to have been heavy bags to carry the
device inside them. They would not have been light bags," the FBI chief
said.
The sight
of someone carrying a heavy black bag might also be significant in terms of
video footage recovered from the crime scene. Forensic experts from the FBI
laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, who specialise in the analysis of digital
film, have arrived in Boston and will be involved in the massive task of
combing through the voluminous mobile phone videos handed in from citizens as
well as footage retrieved from security cameras in the vicinity of the bombing.
While the
forensic developments sound promising, a large vacuum remains at the heart of
the investigation: there remains no knowledge about the perpetrator or
perpetrators and what motivated them. DesLauriers said in this regard that the
hunt remained in its infancy. "At this time there are no claims of
responsibility. The range of suspects and motives remains wide open."
He added
that there was no idea whether those responsible were "a person or
persons".
As Boston
tried to get back to normal business on Tuesday, it was like a town cut in
half. On the one hand, the historic town centre was looking its beautiful best,
with visitors dining on the sidewalks under a cloudless sky and the brownstone
streets adjacent to the bomb site lined with magnolia trees in bloom.
On the
other hand, Swat teams armed with machine-guns were posted on most street
corners and outside the hospitals, and a 12-block area around Boylston Street
that formed the crime scene looked as though it had been subject to a military
coup. The zone was swarming with detectives, the streets jammed with armoured
vehicles, and the air resounded with the barking of sniffer dogs.
Public
officials gave conflicting information about the possible use of pressure
cookers. DesLauriers would not specify whether they believed a pressure cooker
was used in both devices. But after the press conference ended, the US
prosecutor Carmen Ortiz told reporters that a pressure cooker may have been
used at both sites.
The FBI
chief said he wanted to hear from any member of the public who had come across
a friend, colleague or acquaintance who had expressed in recent months a desire
to target the marathon; who had engaged in suspicious research on explosive
devices; or who appeared to be carrying an unusually heavy dark bag in the
vicinity of the blasts on Monday. DesLauriers also asked people to come forward
if they had heard noises of explosions before yesterday that might have been
test runs for the outrage.
Ed Davis,
the Boston police commissioner, denied that the force had made any errors in
the lead up to the marathon. He said the number of police officers had been
increased at this year's marathon, particularly at the finish line, to match
the large crowd that assembled to watch the end of the race.
"This
is a soft target," he said. "Anybody can go into a church service and
do this kind of thing. When you have an event like this, it can't be closed
down like a military operation – by virtue of the event, it requires that we
don't turn it into a police state."
While much
of the public focus the day after the bombing is focused on the hunt for those
who carried it out, the city is also working hard to support the victims and
their families. Thomas Menino, the mayor of Boston, said he had visited wounded
people in hospital.
"They
are hanging in there," he said. "I saw a woman who had lost a leg –
she showed a lot of courage. These families are going through very difficult
times, and we have to show them all the help we can."
More than
1,000 law enforcement officials from 30 state and federal agencies have now
been committed to tracking down whoever was responsible for Monday's twin
blasts, the worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11. The forensic examination
of the crime scene has begun to bear fruit, though officials concede that they
still have no suspects and no motive for the bombing.
The devices
exploded at about 2.50pm on Monday, within seconds of each other and 50 metres
apart, causing a current casualty toll of 176 injured, 17 critically, and three
dead. Two of the dead have been named: Martin Richard, an eight-year-old boy
from Boston's Dorchester neighbourhood, and Krystle Campbell, 29, who had been
at the finish line to watch her boyfriend complete the race. The Chinese
consulate in New York said that the third fatal victim was a Chinese citizen
whose identity was not being made public at the request of their family.
George
Velmahos, chief trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital – where many
of the injured were taken – said nails and pellets were removed from the bodies
of those hit in the blast.
