Opinion
Boston explosion: Aftermath and conspiracy
Last Updated:2013-04-17 15:08 | CE.cn
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By Li Hongmei

 

The flags at the White House will be flown at half-staff until sunset April 20 mourning the victims of Monday's Boston explosion. The decision was taken by President Barack Obama, and it will be spread to all the U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases.

Separately, President Barack Obama will come to Boston on Thursday to attend a memorial service for the blast victims, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said.

The death toll from the bombing remains at three, including an eight-year-old child, but authorities now say the number of injured has risen to 183 with 21 of those are in a critical condition.

All of those killed in the terrorist attack in Boston have been identified. According to a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate General in New York, among them was a Chinese student, who reportedly studied at Boston University. Her relatives asked that her name and age not be revealed. The status of another Chinese national who was among the victims of the explosion is now listed as stable.

However, according to police and special services in Boston, the authorities are still unaware as to the source of the Boston Marathon attack. No one has claimed responsible for the attack and no one has been detained yet.

So far, few details have been released in the probe. Consequently, lots of conspiracy theories have emerged. First, the date of the attack - has been virtually exhausted by the vigilant public opinion in and outside of the United States. April 15 is the deadline for personal property tax declarations, and April 19 is the anniversary of the Oklahoma City explosion staged by ultra-right bomber Timothy McVeigh. But little that has been found out suggests that home-grown extremists inside the U.S. may be involved.

Police investigating the deadly blasts said on Tuesday they had recovered fragments of black nylon that may been from a bag used to conceal one or both of the bombs detonated at the finish line of the famous Boston Marathon, the FBI official leading the probe said. It was also reported that investigators had already recovered fragments of BBs and nails from the scene of Monday's back-to-back explosions.

A person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was still going on told the media that the explosives were put in 6-liter pressure cookers, placed in black duffel bags and left on the ground. They were packed with shrapnel, the person said.

The person said law enforcement officials have some of the bomb components but do not yet know what was used to set off the explosives.
Investigators appealed to the public for amateur video and photos that might yield clues, and the chief FBI agent in Boston vowed "we will go to the ends of the Earth" to find those responsible.

Still, voices vary outside of the U.S. in an attempt to seek what is behind most deadly terrorist blast dealt to the U.S. since 9/11.

The explosions in Boston may be related to U.S. support for the French military operation in Mali, said Essam Elerian the vice-president of the Egyptian Freedom and Justice Party which was created by the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to media reports, the U.S. supported the French military contingent in Mali by providing transport, communications and intelligence support.

"It all started with the dispatch of the French battalion to Mali to fight with organizations that, are supposedly a part of "Al-Qaeda" said the politician on his Facebook page with regards to the events in Boston. He wrote in Arabic with translations provided by the English-language website of TV channel Al-Arabia.

But, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Tuesday there was no indication that the bomb blasts in Boston were part of a broader plot.

Napolitano said that "out of an abundance of caution" the authorities would keep increased security measures - seen and unseen - in place at transportation hubs.

Also, other conspiracy theories in the Boston tragedy seem unable to hold water, for example, one of them goes like this: a certain unrecognized runner who decided to avenge himself on the oblivious public. There are some people link it to the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, though it's pretty unclear how anyone would wish to do such a thing more than a century after the Titanic disaster. Perhaps, there might be a grain of truth in people's fantasies in the event of horrifying occurrences.
 
But, when it comes to the Boston attack, much still needs to be found out before any realistic version can come to light.

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