2 explosions at the finish line at the Boston Marathon.

[landofsoapandglory]

BBC have it as news at the moment.

Sky also have it.

One person dead according to Sky on the TV.

thruaglass - can you please elaborate on your statement?

Latest news from Boston:
3 Dead (one an 8 year old child), 132 injured (17 critically)
10 amputations so far
5 undetonated devices found around the city
Doctors are pulling ball bearings out of the victims (used as shrapnel generators), which would indicate home-made devices.

Some have speculated that it may be a 'home grown' group/individual as today/tomorrow is the deadline for filing and paying annual Tax forms in America, so possibly someone made a strong/deadly protest.

Others have said they are holding a Saudi national who is in the country on a student visa. No confirmation.

Terrible and tragic.

No just 'no confirmation' - plain statement that, despite what has Ben said by some media, "there is no suspect''(Boston police at 0155UK time)

It is being treated by FBI as a 'potential terrorist attack'.

Nothing official has been released about the nature or condition of casualties (other than 'some gravely'), but numbers are now said to be 'more than 100' (Governor Patrick at 2nd press conference).

Apparently the rock band Muse did a concert there on April 12th for the event. Their final song, Survival, was dedicated to the marathoners. You can see a video of that here ..

These are the lyrics :(

Race, life?s a race
And I am gonna win
Yes, I am gonna win

And I?ll light the fuse
And I?ll never lose
And I choose to survive
Whatever it takes
You won?t pull ahead
I?ll keep up the pace
And I?ll reveal my strength
To the whole human race
Yes I am prepared
To stay alive
I won?t forgive, the vengeance is mine
And I won?t give in
Because I choose to thrive

I?m gonna win

Race, it?s a race
But I?m gonna win
Yes I?m gonna win
And I will light the fuse
I?ll never lose
And I choose to survive
Whatever it takes
You won?t ṗull ahead
I?ll keep up the pace
And I?ll reveal my strength
To the whole human race
Yes I?m gonna win

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
Win! Win! Win! Win!

Yes I?m gonna win

where I am they are saying that it is being widely reported that an 8 year old is among the dead .

god I hope not. Just awful all around.

same here and 3 now dead

www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/8554727/Boston-attack-Three-dead-manhunt-widens

Just horrendous. My heart goes out to Boston.

I'm reminded of the film Four Lions where terrorists target the London Marathon with home-made explosives.

I suppose marathons are events where you have an awful lot of people over a wide area of the city where security can't be managed like at stadium.

Bastards whoever did this, whatever their reasons.

It's just gone midnight there. So probably I will be another 8 or 9 hours before there are further official statements.

I might be wrong but I suspect this isn't anything to do with Al Queda, etc. I think it's more likely its an individual in the same vein as the Oklahoma City bombing.

my heart goes out to the families of the victims.

Good lord its horrendous?

My first thought was north Korea due to it being the anniversary day and they have been making threats.

Has anyone seen the pic of the man on the roof? Made the hairs stand up!

Yy ViveleBeaver, quite a few of the US internal bombings etc seem to happen on Patriots day.

edition.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/patriots-day-boston-bombing/

So much for a 10 year War on Terror.

"When I was a little boy, and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" - Fred Rogers.

It's so awful. That poor little boy

I'm American and my gut feeling is that this is domestic right-wing terrorism. Boston is the seat of American revolution, it was not only Patriots Day but tax filing day -- all of these are big themes in right-wing extremism in the US. Also no one has claimed responsibility, and usually AQ related groups do so.

Obviously I could be wrong, I don't mean to speculate too much. It just really worries me because I lived in DC during the 1990s, when right-wing extremism was also quite widespread, and in addition to OK City there were many many other planned attacks that were averted. So it could get quite bad. And America is so much more divided than before, I'm worried how it will handle it.

I was thinking the same thing, Bohemian...I also blame the media for a lot of this terrorism/shootings etc. I often feel that we are giving the sickos who do this kind of thing exactly what they want....

You could be right Bohemian and how awful it all is. That poor little boy and all the other victims. Thoughts with all the families.

This is so awful. I'm speechless, I hope the London Marathon isn't targeted this Sunday.

Horrible, my thoughts with those affected. Just looked at the pictures on BBC and lump in throat at sight of man with his trousers shredded.....

It's a blessing there were so many medical professionals on hand to help, and just so many people willing to help. Humanity can be so kind.

I hope they get the person(s) who did this. What is the point???

Just heard an interview with someone who knows the family of the young boy who lost his life. The father ran the marathon, and the mother is critically injured. There's a girl too, she lost a leg. Gut wrenching. Heart wrenching.

My thoughts go to those affected. I hope that the people/person who did this is brought to justice, it is not fair, so many people's lives will never be the same again.

I also suspect domestic terrorism. The anniversary of the Branch Davidian thing is coming up and also the Oklahoma City bombing, on top of national tax day, and Patriot Day in Massachusetts. Plus many runners at the marathon were sponsored by gun control groups and the Sandy Hook parents were prominent recently.

I saw a report that as of late evening yesterday Boston time surgeons had done a lot of amputations. There was talk of ball bearings in the devices doing catastrophic damage.

Thruaglassdarkly -- President Obama was elected with a majority of the popular vote, not just by the Electoral College. How can you say that he is the one dividing America?

Why are you blaming a president who clearly has majority support for the deliberate divisiveness of the right and the political stalemate it has caused? Obama ran on a platform that very clearly included all of the policies he is pursuing now that he is in office. The electorate has spoken on those policies. It rejected the Romney/Ryan platform and supported the Obama platform. The refusal of the right to accept the will of the majority is the problem in America.

thruaglassdarkly
As an American I find your comment bang out of order.
Dubya divided the USA as much as Obama ever will.
The USA is indeed an incredibly divided country (something that Europeans really do not realise the scale of) but it has been for many, many years.

mathanxiety and Talkinpeace
I so agree!

STOP speculating. That is sickening.

Why is it sickening?

Something awful has happened. It's human nature to ask why, or who did this.

As long as it's responsible speculation, i.e. based on confirmed details, knowledge of wider political and historical context, I think that's okay.

Though I agree that speculation along the lines of 'something blew up, must be Muslims' or 'the government did it to justify another war' is sickening.