Afghans angry at 'lenient' Robert Bales massacre sentence

Residents of Afghan villages where a US soldier went on a rampage last year have reacted with anger that he has escaped the death penalty.

At a US military hearing on Wednesday Staff Sgt Robert Bales, 39, admitted killing 16 civilians in March 2012.
A jury will decide in August whether he is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.

Some of the victims' bodies were burned by Bales after he had shot them

The villagers in Kandahar province argue that he has been treated far too leniently and should be hanged.
Most of the victims were women or children, and many of them were shot in the head. Some of the bodies were piled up and burnt.
'Full of blood' Friends and family members of those killed say they were stunned to learn that he has escaped capital punishment.
"It is our firm demand that Afghanistan, the US and the international community condemn this American to death. He martyred our family members... and went back with his body full of blood of his victims to his camp," bereaved villager Mullah Baran told the BBC.
Another villager, Haji Baqi, whose brother was killed by Bales, said: "We want him to be hanged. The international community should not ignore our grief."
Villager Samiullah said the life sentence meant that justice had not been done. His mother, uncle and cousin were killed.
"The criminal is not being punished," he said. "We want him to be dealt with as his deeds deserve."
At Wednesday's hearing, Bales read from a statement describing each killing in the same terms:
"I left the VSP [Village Stability Platform] and went to the nearby village of Alkozai. While inside a compound in Alkozai, I observed a female I now know to be Na'ikmarga. I formed the intent to kill Na'ikmarga, and I did kill Na'ikmarga by shooting her with a firearm. This act was without legal justification, sir."
When asked by military judge Col Jeffery Nance why he had carried out the murders, Bales responded: "There's not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did."
Defence lawyers have said Bales is contrite about the killings, and described him as "crazed" and "broken" on the night of the attack.
At the time, he was serving his fourth tour of duty and had been drinking alcohol and snorting Valium.
In addition to the 16 murdered, six Afghans were injured.
While prosecutors originally said they would seek the death penalty, no US service member has been executed in more than 50 years.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Politics,violence

Former Pakistani PM’s Son Kidnapped at Election Rally

Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who is contesting in the upcoming general election, speaks during a campaign meeting at a house on the outskirts of Multan, May 9, 2013, before his abduction by unidentified gunm

Sharon Behn

May 09, 2013

SLAMABAD — The son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been taken hostage by gunmen during a political rally in his home area of Multan. It's the latest incident in what has been a violence-marred election campaign in the run up to the May 11 national assembly elections.

Amid a spray of gunfire, unidentified men on motorbikes Thursday sped up to the rally and kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani, who was addressing his supporters.

Gilani had just finished speaking to his People’s Party of Pakistan supporters in the eastern town when the attack took place. Party official Malik Aamir Dogar said three men then pushed Gilani into a car and drove away.

“When he finished the meeting, he go outside. Some people came on motorcycle and straight away they start the firing, and one guard is killed at the movement, and his private secretary is injured at the movement, and there are total of three people and they pulled out to Haider Gilani into the car and they go out,” said Dogar.
Candidates have been holding their final rallies before voters head to the polls to elect a new national assembly on May 11. Gilani was running for a provincial assembly seat in Multan.
 
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari immediately condemned the attack, saying it was a “reprehensible act of a cowardly enemy.” Zardari called on the Election Commission and caretaker government to ensure the elections were not hijacked by extremist elements.
 
The kidnapping is the latest incident in what has turned out to be the most violent election campaign in Pakistan’s history.
 
Militants and extremists with differing objectives have attacked and killed candidates and party supporters in different areas of the country, targeting not only moderate and secular parties like the PPP, but also religious and nationalist parties.
 
Dogar, who called off his own political rally as a result of the attack, said the Taliban most likely was behind Gilani’s abduction.
 
Multan city Police Chief Ghulam Muhammad Dogar, who is not related to Malik Aamir Dogar, said the police were moving swiftly to find the captors.
 
He said police have sealed all the roads joining the district of Multan, and that district police officers are out in force. He also noted that they are making every effort to ensure that all vehicles crossing district boundaries are being checked.
 
Militant groups, such as the Sunni extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other pro-Taliban organizations, are known to operate in the southern Punjab area where Multan is located.
 
Despite the violence, elections are expected to go ahead as planned on May 11.

VOAnews.com

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Posted in: USA,violence

US Charges Three With Hindering Boston Bombing Investigation

Courtroom sketch shows defendants Dias Kadyrbayev, left, and Azamat Tazhayakov appearing in front of Federal Magistrate Marianne Bowler at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, May 1, 2013.

U.S. authorities have arrested and charged three more men in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation.  The suspects are accused of aiding one of the Boston bombers, Dzohkhar Tsarnaev, after the attack by conspiring to obstruct the investigation. 

 

Three newly-arrested suspects appeared in a Boston federal courtroom briefly Wednesday afternoon.  Two of them, Dias Kadyrbayev, 19 years old and Azamat Tazhayakov, also 19 years old, are both nationals of Kazakhstan who entered the United States on student visas.

 

The two are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice by conspiring to destroy, conceal and cover-up a laptop and a backpack containing empty fireworks belonging to the suspected bomber who is in police custody, Dhokhar Tsarnaev. 

 

The two men could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

 

An attorney for Dias Kadyrbayev,  Robert Stahl,  told reporters that his client is not guilty and has been assisting Federal Bureau of Investigation officials.

 

"He is just as shocked  and horrified by the violence in Boston that took place as the rest of the community is. He did not know that this individual was involved in the bombing.  His first inkling came much later," he said. 

 

A third suspect,  Robel Phillipos, 19 years old, is charged with willfully making materially false statements to federal law enforcement officials during a terrorism investigation.   Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, could face a maximum of eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

 

Media reports say the three men attended the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth with the younger brother suspected in the Boston bombing, Dzokhar Tsarnaev, and have now admitted that they removed a backpack and a laptop from Tsarnaev’s dorm room and and did not inform authorities.

 

No evidence has been released at this time that would indicate that the newly charged suspects aided the two Tsarnaev brothers before the Boston bombings, and Boston police say there is no threat to the public.

 

The older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police.

 

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama is briefed on the Boston bombing investigation regularly.  Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, President Obama expressed confidence in the job U.S. intelligence officials are doing, and said it is very hard to prevent smaller attacks planned by individuals.

 

“One of the dangers we now face are self-radicalized individuals who are already here in the U.S. and in some cases, might not be part of any network," he said. 

 

U.S. lawmakers were briefed last week by intelligence officials and told reporters afterwards that they were told that the Tsarnaev brothers likely learned bomb-making from jihadist websites.

 

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of California said it may be that the face of the terrorist threat is changing.

 

"Well, you know probably the most profound question that has been raised by this is, 'has the nature of the threat changed?'  Is it a situation where we are now facing more what Europe has faced, with a alienation of part of the immigrant population, self-radicalization?  That is a different challenge than those that are trained overseas or receive material support from overseas and come here to attack us," he said. 

 

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing next week on the Boston bombings and the implications for U.S. national security.

 

Source VOANEWS.com

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Posted in: USA,violence

Mississippi Man Arrested in Poison Letter Case

Everett Dutschke works on his mini-van in his driveway in Tupelo, Mississippi, Apr. 26, 2013.

VOA news - Federal authorities have formally charged a Mississippi man with sending poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator, and a judge.

The FBI says 41-year-old Everett Dutschke was charged with attempting to use a biological weapon just hours after he was arrested Saturday. He will make his first court appearance Monday and could face life in prison if convicted.

Dutschke allegedly sent letters laced with the deadly poison ricin to President Obama, Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Mississippi state judge Sadie Holland. Mail handling facilities near Washington intercepted the Obama and Wicker letters.

Agents arrested and later freed another suspect earlier this week after finding no evidence he was involved.

Ricin is made from castor beans and can be deadly if inhaled, swallowed, or injected.


Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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Posted in: USA,violence

Lawmaker: Boston Bombing Probe Pursuing 'Persons of Interest' in US

Visitors pause at a makeshift memorial in Copley Square for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, Apr. 27, 2013, in Boston, Mass.

VOA news - U.S. lawmakers say federal investigators probing the Boston Marathon bombings are pursuing "persons of interest" in the United States who may have links to the attacks.

Speaking Sunday on ABC television, House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers did not provide details. But he said better cooperation is needed with Russia to probe the movements of two suspects with ties to the southern Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan.

New details have emerged with reports that now-deceased suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev spoke to his mother about jihad in a 2011 telephone call to the region that was secretly recorded by Russian authorities. CBS News reported that U.S. investigators only learned about the telephone call in the past several days.

Elsewhere Sunday, House Homeland Security Committee chair Michael McCaul said he believes Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his suspect brother, Dzhokhar, got training in explosives, considering the "level of sophistication" of the bombs that ripped through crowds viewing the April 15 marathon. McCaul spoke on "Fox News Sunday."

Investigators say 26-year-old Tamerlan and 19-year-old Dzhokhar planted two bombs near the finish line of the race, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260 others. Tamerlan was later killed in a shootout with police, and Dzhokar - captured four days after the bombings - has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.

U.S. investigators have since questioned the suspects' parents in Dagestan to determine if Tamerlan had contact with Islamic extremists during a 2012 visit. Tamerlan was placed on a U.S. terrorism alert list in late 2011, after Russian authorities contacted the CIA with concerns that he may have become a radical.

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Posted in: USA,violence

'Part of 9/11 plane landing gear' found in New York

BBC- New York police say what appears to be part of the landing gear of one of jets flown into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 has been found.

The 5ft (1.52m) piece of metal, which bears a Boeing label and serial number, was wedged between two New York City buildings, police said.
It was found on Wednesday by surveyors inspecting a lower Manhattan building.

The 5ft piece of metal was found wedged between two buildings

Nearly 3,000 people died in the terror attacks as planes were brought down in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Five suspected al-Qaeda militants are awaiting trial for the attacks at a military tribunal at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2,976 counts of murder "It's a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act a block and a half away from where we stand," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters outside the secured site. "It brings back terrible memories to anyone who was here, who was involved in that event."
The piece was found in a narrow, rubbish-filled space 18in (0.45m) wide.
Mr Kelly told reporters after inspecting it that a length of rope was looped around the piece of steel and that no marks were visible on the walls overhead, suggesting it could have been lowered from the rooftop.
The New York Police Department has secured the area behind 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street as a crime scene.

Analysts suggest a full exploration of the site may require some
demolition work on the two buildings

The location is at the site where a mosque and community centre has been proposed, three streets away from "Ground Zero" - the site of the twin towers.
Police have taken photographs and are keeping it off-limits until a health assessment has been made by the medical examiner's office.
Mr Kelly said investigators will scour the space for possible human remains.
He said the landing gear was found about 11:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday by surveyors hired by the owner of 51 Park Place.
At 08:46 on 11 September 2001, American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Center's north tower. Seventeen minutes later, United flight 175 hit the south tower.
Although rubble from the attack was cleared in 2002, other debris has been found scattered across the local areas in the years since.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the attacks while the other four men being held at Guantanamo Bay are implicated for providing support for the co-ordinated hijacking.
They are charged with conspiring with al-Qaeda, terrorism, and one count of murder for each known victim of the 11 September attacks at the time the charges were filed - 2,976 in total.
The five face a possible death penalty sentence, if convicted.

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Posted in: USA,violence

Biden Calls Boston Bombing Suspects 'Cowardly'

Source VOA

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is criticizing the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects as perverted and cowardly.

 

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a memorial service for slain
 MIT campus officer, Sean Collier, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Apr. 24, 2013.

Biden spoke Wednesday in Boston at a memorial service for a university police officer who authorities say was gunned down by suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, three days after the bombings.

 

The vice president questioned why anyone acts to terrorize innocent people.

"Why, whether it’s al-Qaida central ... or two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knock-off jihadists here in Boston.  Why do they do what they do?," he asked. 

 

Several thousand mourners gathered at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology to remember the slain policeman, Sean Collier.  Biden said the United States must keep its values in the face of threats from terrorists.

 

"The only way they can gain ground is to instill fear that causes us to jettison our values, our way of life, for us to change," he said. "The moment we change, the moment we look inward, the moment we get into a crouch in a defensive, that’s the moment when they win."

 

Meanwhile, U.S. investigators have questioned the parents of the two suspects in the Russian republic of Dagestan, as they try to determine what might have influenced the sons in the months before the attack.

 

U.S. authorities, working with Russian security forces, interviewed the parents Tuesday night and called back the mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, for more questioning on Wednesday.

 

The investigators are particularly interested in any contacts the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, might have had with Islamic extremists during a six-month visit to Dagestan and Chechnya last year.  

 

U.S. lawmakers discussed the same trip Tuesday as they raised concerns about the sharing of intelligence among federal law enforcement agencies. Senator Lindsey Graham said the FBI told him it was not aware at the time of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia.

 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was 26, died after a shootout with police last Thursday, while his younger brother Dzhokhar was captured a day later. The 19-year-old Dzhokhar has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.  He is in federal custody in a Boston hospital.

 

The brothers allegedly set off two bombs alongside the Boston Marathon course, killing three people and injuring 264. At least 14 of the wounded lost legs in the blasts. 

 

Boston authorities on Wednesday reopened Boylston Street to the public.  It is the city thoroughfare where the explosions occurred.

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Posted in: Society,USA,violence

Boston marathon bombs suspect captured

The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings is in custody after being found hiding in a boat in a suburban homeowner's backyard.

Police said they exchanged gunfire with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, after cornering him in Watertown, near Boston.

He had escaped on foot early on Friday, apparently wounded, after a police shootout that claimed the life of his elder brother, an alleged accomplice.

Three people died and more than 170 were hurt in Monday's bombings.

At a Friday night press conference, US President Barack Obama promised to seek answers on what had motivated the bombers and whether they had help.

Col Timothy Alben of the Massachusetts State Police:
 "We're exhausted... but have a victory"

He spoke just after state police told journalists that the suspect was being treated at a Massachusetts hospital, bleeding and seriously injured with gunshot wounds to the neck and leg.

'Captured!'

The breakthrough came less than an hour after authorities lifted a city-wide order for residents to stay indoors, and reopened the transport system, as the trail appeared to have gone cold.

Authorities captured the suspect following a tip from a resident of Franklin Street, Watertown, who emerged from his home after the lockdown was lifted and noticed blood near the boat.

Upon opening the top of the boat and finding a man covered in blood, the resident called police.

Bomb-squad vans and ambulances surrounded the house, while helicopters buzzed overhead.

Police said they exchanged gunfire with the suspect for about an hour before moving in and seizing him.

The authorities said they also tossed flash-bang grenades into the boat to disorient the fugitive.

A crowd gathered near the scene cheered as the suspect was taken into custody.

Boston Police Department tweeted: "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody."

Thousands of Swat team officers had earlier scoured the streets all day in a manhunt that virtually shut down the city.

Massachusetts officials had shut down all mass transit and warned close to one million people in Boston and some of its suburbs not to leave their homes.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a college student, had fled on foot following a gun battle that left 200 spent rounds and a car chase in which he and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, hurled explosives at police, authorities said.

The pair also shot and killed a university policeman and severely wounded another officer late on Thursday, authorities said, hours after the FBI released images of the marathon-bombing suspects.

Russian warning?

Law enforcement officials and family members have identified the Tsarnaev brothers as ethnic Chechens who had been living in America for about a decade.

The FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 after a request from a foreign government, US law enforcements officials have confirmed. But agents closed the case after finding no cause for concern.

In an interview on Russian television, the mother of the two suspects said the FBI was in contact with her son for several years.

It is not known which country made the request, but the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says it is likely to have come from the Russians.

Our correspondent says now that the manhunt in Boston is over, the extent of the FBI's prior knowledge of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's activities is likely to be examined.

Monday's attack killed Martin Richard, aged eight, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lu Lingzi, 23, a postgraduate student from China.

Earlier on Friday, the father of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said his son was a second-year medical student in the US and was hoping to be a brain surgeon.

Anzor Tsarnaev told the BBC he believed the secret services had framed his sons.

"It was a terrorist attack carefully organised by secret services - I don't know which ones. My son used to go to a mosque, so they once paid us a visit to ask why he is doing that.

"Yes, there was such an episode. So they put all the blame on him and shot him. That's it."

But Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of the suspects who lives in Maryland, said he was "ashamed" his nephews' alleged role in the bombings.

Asked what the bombers' motives may have been, he replied: "Being losers, hating everyone around them."

Also on Friday, investigators removed a computer and other evidence from the New Jersey home of the Tsarnaev brothers' sister, police said.

Ailina Tsarnaeva, who lives in the town of West New York, is said to have told FBI agents she had had no contact with her brothers for some time.

Source BBC

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Posted in: USA,violence

Texas fertiliser plant blast leaves scores injured

The blast at the West Fertilizer plant was reported at 19:50 (00:50 GMT)

Scores of people are reported injured and others are trapped in burning buildings after a huge explosion at a fertiliser plant near Waco in the US state of Texas.

Firefighters, ambulances and six helicopters have been mobilised to deal with the situation.
Several buildings are still on fire, after the blast at the West Fertilizer plant about 19:50 (00:50 GMT).
An official confirmed there were deaths, but could not give a figure.

"It was like being in a tornado. Stuff was flying everywhere. It blew out my windshield. It was like the whole earth shook.”Debby Marak, witness

Dean Wilson, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a news conference that they were still conducting house to house searches.

He said the fire was still smouldering and that no firefighters were tackling it as there was the risk of further explosions.
Half the town had been evacuated, he added.

Local emergency workers were mobilised to the scene

The Waco Tribune-Herald reported that firefighters had been trying to put out a fire at the plant when the explosion happened, and that some were among those injured.

The blast happened in West, a town of about 2,700 people some 20 miles (32km) north of Waco.
TV images showed streams of emergency vehicles descending on the site and ambulance crews using a nearby sports field as an emergency treatment area.
Glenn A Robinson, chief executive of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, told CNN that his hospital had received 66 injured people including 38 who were seriously hurt.
He said the hospital was seeing "everything from orthopaedic injuries to patients that are experiencing serious blood loss".
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said: "It's a lot of devastation. I've never seen anything like this. It looks like a war zone with all the debris."
Unconfirmed reports said a nursing home had collapsed in the explosion and some people were believed trapped inside.

The massive blast was heard from miles around

Witness Debby Marak told the Associated Press news agency that she had seen smoke coming from the area near the plant and had driven over to see what was happening.
She said that when she arrived, two boys ran toward her screaming that the authorities had told them to leave because the fertiliser plant was going to explode.
 She said she drove a short distance before the blast happened.
"It was like being in a tornado," she said. "Stuff was flying everywhere. It blew out my windshield. It was like the whole earth shook."
Another resident told KWTX-TV that she heard several explosions from 13 miles (20km) away.
"It sounded like three bombs going off very close to us,'' said Lydia Zimmerman.
The air in town was still covered in acrid smoke more than two hours after the explosion.
The area around the site was littered with shards of wood, bricks and glass.
Texas Governor Rick Perry said in a statement: "We are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident.
"We have also mobilised state resources to help local authorities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene."

Source BBC

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Posted in: USA,violence

Obama 'ricin' letter suspect arrested

 An arrest has been made after letters containing suspected ricin were sent to US President Barack Obama and a US senator.

The alleged sender is a resident of Mississippi, US media report.

Jay Carney, White House spokesman: "They will be conducting further tests"

Initial tests on the letters, identified at remote facilities, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.
The FBI has said there is "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack in Boston.
The letters addressed to the president and Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.
The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.
They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.

Earlier, police questioned a man in the area who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.

Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.
Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating.
All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.
Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Source BBC

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Posted in: Politics,USA,violence

Boston Marathon bombing: FBI reveals pressure cooker clues

Bombs that targeted the Boston Marathon on Monday may have been packed in pressure cookers, investigators say.

The bombs apparently involved pressure cookers stuffed with metal shards

Images from a joint Homeland Security and FBI bulletin show the remains of a dark backpack, a detonation device and mangled pieces of metal.

Three people were killed and more than 170 injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of Monday's race.

Those who died were an eight-year-old boy, a woman aged 29 and a postgraduate student from China.

The BBC's Paul Adams, in Boston, says vigils for the victims were held across the city on Tuesday night as Bostonians still wrestled with why anyone would want to attack their much-loved marathon.

President Barack Obama will travel to Boston on Thursday for a memorial.

'Someone knows'

FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers told a news conference that pieces of nylon had been recovered from the scene, along with fragments of ball bearings and nails that were "possibly contained in a pressure-cooker device".

He said they were being sent to the agency's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where experts would reconstruct the devices to determine their make-up and components.

He added: "The investigation is in its infancy. There are no claims of responsibility and the range of suspects and motives remains wide open."

Mr DesLauriers urged people to report anyone they had seen acting suspiciously.

"Someone knows who did this," he said.

Associated Press quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that the bombs consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.

The bombs were put into black bags and left on the ground, the source said.

Our correspondent says it has also been reported that a circuit board and battery pack - parts of a triggering mechanism - were also recovered.

Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.

Speaking at the same news conference, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the Boston community would "recover and heal" from the attack.

"This is one community. We are all in this together," he said.

President Obama will address an interfaith service in Boston for the victims on Thursday morning.

The White House said Mr Obama had cancelled a planned trip to Kansas to speak.

Earlier, President Obama condemned the bombings as a terrorist act.

He said the attack was "heinous and cowardly" but stressed it was not yet known whether an organisation - either domestic or foreign - or a "malevolent individual" was responsible, nor what the motive might have been.

"Everything else at this point is speculation," he said.

FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers gives
details of possible bomb components

"It will take time... but we will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice."

One of those who died has been named as eight-year-old Martin Richard, from the Dorchester area of Boston.

He was at the finishing line with his mother and sister, who were both seriously injured.

"They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit," Congressman Stephen Lynch, a friend of the Richard family, told Associated Press.

Flowers and tributes were being placed outside the family's home on Tuesday.

A second victim was named as Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager.

Her mother, Patty, shaking with emotion, told reporters that "you couldn't ask for a better daughter".

"Everybody who knew her loved her... she had a heart of gold. This doesn't make any sense."

Boston University said the third person who died was a graduate student.In a statement on Tuesday,

The Chinese consulate in New York confirmed that the student who died was a Chinese national. "At the request of her family, the victim's personal information will not be disclosed," said a statement from the consulate.

She has been identified, however, by a Hong Kong TV channel which said she was from Shenyang in north-east China.

The university said she was with two friends watching the race near the finish line. One of the friends, named as Zhou Danling by Chinese TV, was said to be in a stable condition in hospital.

The consulate said it was providing "all necessary assistance" to the two families.

The first explosion went off close to the finish line at about 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT) on Monday.

Seconds later, as rescuers were rushing to help the injured, another explosion went off nearby.

Speaking at an earlier press conference, Mr DesLauriers moved to reassure the public, saying there was no longer any "known imminent physical threat" to Boston.

"We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime, and we will do everything we can to bring them to justice," he said.

Police have asked the public to send in any videos or photographs they may have from the day.

The London Marathon - the next major international marathon - is to go ahead on Sunday, with police saying they have well-rehearsed security plans.

Organisers have said they will hold a 30-second silence at the start as a mark of respect.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Tội phạm,USA,violence

Obama Vows to Solve Bombings as Investigators Comb Video Files

President Barack Obama committed the full resources of the federal government to the investigation of the deadly twin bombings at the Boston Marathon and he pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable.

“We still do not know who did this or why,” Obama said in a televised statement from the White House just over three hours after the explosions that killed three people and injured more than 100. “But make no mistake: we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this.” Whoever is responsible “will feel the full weight of justice.”

In this handout provided by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama, left,
 talks on the phone with FBI Director Robert Mueller to receive an update
 on the explosions that occurred in Boston, in the Oval Office on April 15, 2013.
Photographer: Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images

U.S. spy agencies had no advance warning of an impending attack, said Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and two other intelligence officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss the investigation.

The blasts were the first mass-casualty bombing in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks. Federal investigators were immediately dispatched to the scene to begin combing through video of the scene from multiple cameras and examine debris from the explosion for forensic clues. Police were examining other potential devices found in the area. They were not believed to be explosives, according to two federal law enforcement officials.

Several people were being questioned, including a foreign national in the country on an expired student visa who is not classified as a suspect at this point, according to a federal law enforcement official. Boston police have no suspect in custody, Commissioner Ed Davis said at a news briefing.

Terrorist Attack

The attack is being treated as a terrorist act because it involved multiple explosive devices, though investigators have not yet found any link to an organized terror group, foreign or domestic, said a White House official who asked for anonymity. Obama did not use the term terrorism in his televised remarks.

Federal law defines terrorism as violence to “intimidate or coerce” either the government or members of the public, according to the FBI website. The site chosen for the explosions, near the finish line of the race, provided maximum opportunity for television exposure.

Local police confiscated mobile phones from people in the area of the explosion, said Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Insurgents in Iraq sometimes use cellphone signals to detonate bombs.

Obama cautioned that people “shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts.”

Intelligence Agencies

U.S. intelligence agencies had no prior indications that any foreign group was planning an attack in the U.S. today, said two U.S. officials with access to classified reports of international communications, satellite imagery and other material that sometimes provides warnings of possible foreign terrorist acts.

A third official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said among the considerations is the timing of the attack. It came on the day when federal income taxes customarily are due and Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts, celebrating the opening shots of the American Revolution against the British Crown, which might point to a domestic extremist group.

Obama said security across the country would be stepped up “as necessary” in response to the attack. The Secret Service restricted pedestrian access in front of the White House “out of an abundance of caution,” said Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

Earlier Attempts

The blasts at the race, which attracts about 25,000 runners and 500,000 spectators each year, follow several bombing attempts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21-year-old man from Bangladesh, pleaded guilty in February to planning to bomb the New York Federal Reserve last year.

In 2010, Faisal Shahzad was sentenced to life in prison for driving a car containing an explosive into New York’s Times Square, and Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to supporting al- Qaeda and plotting in 2009 to attack New York subways.

Nor was yesterday’s attack the first bombing of a major U.S. sporting event.

A blast at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 26, 1996, killed one and injured more than 100 people. Eric Robert Rudolph, an anti-abortion activist, admitted detonating the 40-pound pipe bomb.

Task Force

Investigations into bombings like the pair of explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon are typically run by a Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership of law enforcement and investigative agencies ranging from state and local police departments to the FBI to the US. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to former government officials involved in such probes.

The oldest task forces, commonly referred to by their initials, JTTF, date back to the 1980s and currently number more than 100 nationwide, including one in the Boston area, according to Shawn Henry, a former executive assistant director of the FBI.

“It’ll be all hands on deck. Everybody working their areas of responsibility,” said Henry, referring to the initial effort to collect evidence and interview witnesses in the bombings.

“Investigators will be checking with their sources, looking at video feeds that might be available, talking to people who set up the course, seeing if they might have noticed something unusual,” said Henry, president of CrowdStrike Services, an Irvine, California-based security consultant. Authorities can’t automatically assume the bombings are the work of Islamist terrorists, who have been linked to several bomb plots since the Sept. 11 attacks, Henry said.

Seeking Motives

“It could be somebody who’s got a grievance,” Henry said, adding that yesterday was the day federal taxes are due. “It could be someone who doesn’t like paying taxes.”

Philip Mudd, former deputy director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center and a former senior intelligence adviser to the FBI, said investigators will be studying the style of the bombings, which based on what currently is publicly known, do not bear the classic marks of al Qaeda-inspired attack plots.

Those efforts have sought to inflict maximum casualties in crowded iconic locations, like New York’s Times Square, or its subway system, Mudd, director of global risk at SouthernSun Asset Management in Memphis, Tennessee, said.

“Here you have what appears to be a relatively small bomb in a public place that’s not iconic,” Mudd said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Dorning in Washington atmdorning@bloomberg.net; Phil Mattingly in Washington at pmattingly@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net

source bloomberg

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Posted in: Tội phạm,USA,violence

Boston Marathon Explosions Kill 2, Wound Dozens

At least two people were killed and more than more than 100 injured Monday after two nearly simultaneous bomb blasts went off near crowds of spectators at the finish line of the world famous Boston Marathon.

n this image from video provided by WBZ TV, spectators and
runners run from what was described as twin explosions that shook
the finish line of the Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013.

A source briefed on the investigation said authorities found three other devices that did not explode, including one in the Boston suburb of Newton.  Bomb disposal teams were examining discarded bags and parcels left at the scene of the blasts.

There was no word on the motive or who may have launched the attack, and authorities said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in televised remarks that the United States does not know "who did this or why," but he vowed that whoever is responsible "will feel the full weight of justice."

While Obama did not call the explosions an attack, a White House official said any event with multiple explosive devices, as this appears to be, "is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror."

Television footage showed scenes of confusion, streets littered with debris and blood, paramedics carrying stretchers, and damage to nearby buildings.  

Bloody spectators, including some with severed limbs, were carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners from the race.

The blasts occurred about two hours after the first of the race's more than 23,000 runners had crossed the finish line.  About 17,600 participants finished before the explosions.  The competition was halted after the bombs went off, as was subway service to the area.

The Federal Aviation Administration placed temporary flight restrictions in the airspace over the site of the initial twin explosions near the finish line of the marathon.  The restrictions do not affect commercial air operations at Boston's Logan Airport.

Cities worldwide stepped up security following the explosions.

In Britain, police said they are reviewing security plans for Sunday's London Marathon, the next major international marathon.  London is considered a top target for international terrorists.

New York City officials said police have increased security around landmarks in Manhattan, including near prominent hotels, in response to the blast.  Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles also are on a heightened state of alert.

Officials in Boston said an electrical fire that broke out at the John F. Kennedy Library a few kilometers from the marathon's finish line was not related to the bombings.
Shortly after the explosions, the U.S. Secret Service shut down Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House, cordoning off the area with yellow police tape.  But the White House is not on lockdown.

President Obama called Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and told them his administration will provide whatever assistance is necessary in the investigation and response.

Boston is a major metropolis located in the northeastern U.S.  The marathon is a significant event the city hosts every year.  It attracts runners and spectators from all over the world.

Source VOAnews

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Posted in: USA,violence

Bắt nhân chứng vụ chết người Vĩnh Phúc

Báo Người Lao Động cho hay công an tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc vừa bắt Nguyễn Văn Hiệp, em họ nạn nhân và là nhân chứng trong vụ án mạng gây chú ý.

Đối tượng Nguyễn Văn Hiệp

Trả lời báo này ngày 15/4, Thiếu tướng Phùng Tiến Bộ, Giám đốc Công an tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc, cho biết hai đối tượng mới nhất bị bắt gồm Nguyễn Văn Hiệp, em họ Nguyễn Tuấn Anh, bị bắt ngày 12/4 vì hành vi 'Không tố giác tội phạm' và Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, bị bắt ngày 10/4 vì hành vi 'Che giấu tội phạm'.

Trước đó, công an cũng đã khởi tố sáu nghi can liên quan đến vụ việc.

Hôm 17/3 hàng trăm người đã theo gia đình Nguyễn Tuấn Anh mang quan tài của anh diễu trên đường phố Vĩnh Yên.

Thân nhân Tuấn Anh cho rằng có khuất tất trong kết quả khám nghiệm tử thi của công an, theo đó nạn nhân chết vì ngạt nước.

Thi thể Nguyễn Tuấn Anh được phát hiện trong mương nước trong tình trạng tím bầm, bị mất hết răng.

Trong vụ mang quan tài diễu phố, đã xảy ra đụng độ giữa người dân và nhân viên công quyền.

"Nhân chứng quan trọng"

Điều đáng chú ý là một trong hai đối tượng vừa bị bắt, Nguyễn Văn Hiệp được xem là nhân chứng quan trọng của vụ án vì đã đi cùng với Nguyễn Tuấn Anh ngày xảy ra án mạng.

Báo Người Lao Động dẫn lời cơ quan điều tra nói Hiệp "biết qua thân nhân về một số đối tượng gây án, những không thông báo với gia đình nạn nhân cũng như cơ quan chức năng. Chỉ đến khi công triệu tập thì Hiệp mới khai báo về sự việc."

Trước đó, lời thuật của nhân chứng này được đăng tải trên hầu hết các báo hôm 22/3.

Theo Nguyễn Văn Hiệp, sự việc xảy ra tối 14/3 tại một quán ăn ở Phường Hội Hợp, thành phố Vĩnh Yên, Vĩnh Phúc nơi Nguyễn Tuấn Anh đã say rượu và cãi nhau với một số thanh niên.

Sau đó, Tuấn Anh đã bị những người này lùa đánh tới con mương, nơi mà xác anh được tìm thấy hôm 17/3.

Bản thân Nguyễn Văn Hiệp khai chạy thoát trước khi việc sát hại nạn nhân xảy ra. Vì quá hoảng sợ, anh Hiệp đã viết bản cam kết xin ở lại cơ quan điều tra công an do sợ quan ngại bị trả thù.

Cũng có tin Nguyễn Văn Hiệp "bị đám người xấu nhắn tin đe dọa sẽ giết cả nhà nếu khai ra danh tính họ".

Đối với đối tượng Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, cơ quan điều tra cho biết người này đã được giao nhiệm vụ trông coi ngôi nhà tại phường Hội Hợp nơi các đối tượng gây án cư trú.

Cũng theo cơ quan điều tra, các đối tượng này đã kể cho Tuấn nghe về việc gây án, tuy nhiên Tuấn đã không báo lại với cơ quan công an mà còn cho vay tiền, tạo điều kiện cho đối tượng Nguyễn Văn Bình chạy trốn.

Theo BBC

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Posted in: Vietnam,violence,xã hội