America’s marathon mystery Restraint in US; Indians help out K.P. NAYAR

America's marathon mystery Restraint in US; Indians help out

K.P. NAYAR

Washington, April 16: Twenty four hours after the Boston Marathon was bombed on its 117th anniversary, there are more theories than facts about who was responsible for three deaths and 176 injuries, 17 of them critical. Edward Davis, Boston's police commissioner, said at a news conference this morning that no one has been arrested yet and announced that there will be no further media briefings today unless significant new information that can be shared with the public opens up. The decision is tantamount to a news blackout as investigations continue and is aimed at nipping speculation in the media by making clear that no information coming out for the rest of the day is official unless it is corroborated. President Barack Obama said at the White House shortly before noon today that investigators still do not know "who carried out this attack or why. Clearly, we are at the beginning of our investigation". The President predicted that the investigation into what happened will take time. Obama cautioned that "people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts." His caution was prompted in part by a New York tabloid prematurely claiming that a Saudi national had been identified as a suspect in the Boston attack. The authorities swiftly denied the report and the roommate of the 20 year-old Saudi student in question, who was injured and hospitalised in the attack, strongly defended the youth. Although police searched their apartment in Revere, a Boston suburb, they later said the Saudi was not a suspect. Obama's cautionary advice may have prompted Peter King, a key member of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, to assert that authorities still have no idea of who plotted the devastating attack although they are following several leads. King, who is a habitual Islam-baiter on Capitol Hill, made his remarks after being updated by federal government officials this morning. After holding off an entire day from using the word "terrorism", Obama today described the Boston bombings as an "act of terrorism". He did so after being briefed early this morning by Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the process, Obama set a benchmark for classifying terrorist acts. "Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror." Although the President claimed "the American people refuse to be terrorised," Tuesday brought a stream of reports from across the US of how much people are on edge after tragedy struck Boston. In New York, a terminal at LaGuardia airport was evacuated after security was alerted about what appeared to be a suspicious package. At Boston's Logan airport, a US Airways flight on the tarmac was evacuated after a piece of unchecked baggage was suspected to be on board and two passengers were found speaking Arabic, the latter snippet according to a Fox News affiliate station. In Washington, the Secret Service cordoned off additional points around the White House and the city's Metro transit system increased checks at stations during today's morning rush hour. In New Delhi, the external affairs ministry confirmed the assessment by Indian media outlets inquiring into the Boston bombings, including this newspaper, that "no reports have as yet been received of injuries caused to Indian nationals". Massachusetts was, however, awash with accounts of how Indian spectators and doctors among the marathon runners rushed to help victims of terror. One of them, Vivek Shah, who practises orthopaedic surgery at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, was just at the finish line of the marathon when the bombs went off. Along with other doctors among the runners, he dropped everything and began separating the injured into groups depending on the seriousness of their injuries. The process is known in hospital emergency rooms as "triage" when limited medical resources must be used to the best effect. "In all my medical training, I have not seen things that I saw" at the finish line. "Everything was traumatic," he told ABC News Radio later. "I have never been in combat, but people I have trained with, people who have been (in battlefields) and this is as close as I can imagine it would be," Shah said of their triage work and spoke of the bombing scene as if it was a war zone. Tents came up within minutes of the bomb blasts and the wounded were given immediate, if impromptu, care by doctors. An internist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Sushrut Jangi, whose both parents are from Maharashtra, told The Boston Globe that "there were victims coming in with both legs blown off. I had never seen anything like that". Coincidentally, Jangi had written a column in the Globe a week before the marathon about the risks of running yesterday. But he was writing about the health risks citing the case of James Fuller Fixx, who penned the best-seller The Complete Guide to Running. The author died of a sudden heart attack at 52 after one of his daily runs. The external affairs ministry said in a statement that "our embassy in Washington and our consulate-general in New York have been placed on alert." Security at the embassy was completely overhauled little more than a year ago with metal detectors and a comprehensive new drill for visitors on the advice of US government agencies based on their threat perception for the mission. President Pranab Mukherjee strongly condemned the Boston bombing. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Obama today that "we stand in solidarity and sympathy with the bereaved families, the injured and the people of the US. The attack serves as a tragic reminder of the evil of terrorism that still threatens our nations and lurks in our cities". He offered India's support for the investigations. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130417/jsp/frontpage/story_16794743.jsp#.UW6zP6KBlA0