Bombings at the Boston Marathon: Many injured 2 confirmed dead

A targeted and co-ordinated attack occurred today at the Boston Marathon shortly after 3 pm EDT. The Boston Marathon which was established in 1897 is said to typically attract 500 000 spectators and this year had over 27 000 entrants registered to participate. As many questions begin to rise; over the bombings of the attack, all other major cities in the United States including the White House and Pentagon have been placed under heightened security.

Boston Massachusetts is a city which has a sizeable population of Zimbabweans learning and working within it. For those failing to get a hold of their loved ones in Boston, the state officials have issued out a phone number: 617 635 4500; where you can contact Boston officials; to figure out if your relatives were involved in the explosion casualties. As of now the explosion is being considered as an ongoing event with the city being fanned out with EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) teams; who have managed to acquire two undetonated explosive devices within the city.  All people within the Boston area are being advised to stay out of large groups and preferable be indoors.

Governor Deval Patrick and Police Commissioner Ed Davis came out in an initial press conference to allay the city and report a subsequent explosion at a library (JFK Library); which was later attributed to an incendiary device not yet confirmed to be connected to the two initial blasts. According to law enforcement officials there were no credible sources or leads prior to the marathon attacks, of any threat being apparent. The two explosions which occurred 50-100 yards apart from each other produced a white plume of smoke which suggests that the devices may have been low-grade and crude in makeup, the constituency of how the bombs are made up will be able to illuminate on the identity of the bomber and whether this incident is an international or a home-grown terrorist attack.

The explosions which were detonated near the finish line of the race were in an area where the buildings were densely packed, capable of creating a containment-canyon effect which would have amplified the effects of the bomb by restricting the energy to dissipate, fortunately due to the crude make-up of the bomb the effects and results could have been more profound.

A guarded President Obama still bruised from the public-relations fumble during the Benghazi incident, today held a press conference at 6.15pm EDT, and did not call the incident a terrorist attack, instead treading cautiously and asking for calm, stating that "People shouldn't jump to conclusions before we get the facts" and further trying to calm the situation by assuring the American public that "We will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable."   Today was a public holiday in Massachusetts  celebrating Patriots Day, therefore all public buildings and main sites downtown Boston were unoccupied. Federal sources are being quoted as saying this was definitely a "well planned event", the confirmed injured at the release of this article was sitting at 2 dead with 69 confirmed injured with a possible tally of unofficially 110+ people injured including 8-9 children.

We will continue to reach out to the Zimbabwean community in Boston to ascertain the situation and follow up on the community. One of the two people confirmed dead is said to be an eight year old child, with the status of some people injured being critical. All international flights in and out the United States have begun full screening and security checks, with the Federal law enforcement issuing a Level One Mobilization for all officers. 

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Tsungai Chipato is a blogger and free-lance journalist in Toronto
Contact him @ : mugaradzakasungwa@gmail.com