Boston: Law enforcement sources on Wednesday said an arrest has been made in the Boston Marathon twin blasts case. However, the motive behind the bombings, which killed three people and injured over 170 others on Monday morning, is still not known, sources added.
Earlier, officials had said they have identified a dark skinned male who is a suspect in the blasts case, CNN sources had informed. Officials had also believed to have a clear facial image of the suspect placing the package and leaving the site, CNN sources added.
The suspect was identified from a video of a departmental store, sources said. They added that video from a TV station also believed to have helped identifying the suspect.
Meanwhile, an official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the suspect is expected in federal court in Boston. Law enforcement agencies had earlier pleaded for the public to come forward with photos, videos or any information that might help them solve the twin bombings.
Investigators circulated information about the bombs, which involved kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel. But the FBI said nobody had claimed responsibility.
Investigators in white jumpsuits had fanned out across the streets, rooftops and awnings around the blast site in search of clues on Wednesday. They combed through debris amid the toppled orange sports drink dispensers, trash cans and sleeves of plastic cups strewn across the street at the marathon's finish line.
President Barack Obama branded the attack an act of terrorism. Obama plans to attend an interfaith service Thursday in the victims' honor in Boston. Scores of victims of the Boston bombing remained in hospitals, many with grievous injuries.
Doctors who treated the wounded corroborated reports that the bombs were packed with shrapnel intended to cause mayhem. In addition to the 5-year-old child, a 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed in critical condition.
The trauma surgery chief at Boston Medical Center says most of the injuries his hospital treated after the marathon bombings were to the legs. "We have a lot of lower extremity injuries, so I think the damage was low to the ground and wasn't up," Dr Peter Burke said.
"The patients who do have head injuries were blown into things or were hit by fragments that went up." Dozens of patients have been released from hospitals around the Boston area.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, all four amputations performed there were above the knee, with no hope of saving more of the legs, said Dr George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery. "It wasn't a hard decision to make," he said Tuesday. "We just completed the ugly job that the bomb did."
The bombs exploded 10 or more seconds apart, tearing off victims' limbs and spattering streets with blood. The blasts near the finish line instantly turned the festive race into a hellish scene of confusion, horror and heroics.
The blasts killed 8-year-old Martin Richard, of Boston, and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, of Medford. The Shenyang Evening News, a state-run Chinese newspaper, identified the third victim as Lu Lingzi. She was a graduate student at Boston University.
(With Additional Inputs From AP)
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