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Karzai offers condolences to Boston attacks victims

Karzai offers condolences to Boston attacks victims

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16 Apr 2013 - 15:58
Karzai offers condolences to Boston attacks victims
author avatar
16 Apr 2013 - 15:58

KABUL): President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday extended condolences to the families of those killed and wound in twin bomb explosions that ripped through a marathon race in the US’s Boston city yesterday.

Media reports put the toll at four dead and more than 100 injured in the explosions that ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, shattering the annual civic celebration on the Patriots’ Day state holiday while tens of thousands of people packed the street to cheer on the runners.

The two devices using gunpowder as the explosive were packed with ball bearings and other shrapnel to maximise injuries, said a senior law enforcement official.

No one has been arrested in the bombing. A White House official said the case would be treated as an act of terrorism but it had yet to be determined whether the attack came from a foreign or domestic source.

The Pakistani Taliban have said they were not involved.

President Karzai said in a statement the Afghans could feel better the pain because they had suffered at lot from such terrorist attacks for years.

He offered condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and the people of the United States of America.

Doctors treated 29 patients including eight who were in critical condition and many of the seriously injured patients had suffered bone, soft tissue and vascular damage to their legs.

The dead included an 8-year-old boy, the Boston Globe reported, citing two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

A 2-year-old with a head injury was being treated at Boston Children’s Hospital, the hospital said in a statement.

The blasts put police on alert in major cities across the United States, including in Washington, D.C., and New York City, sites of the September 11 attacks.

The annual Boston Marathon, held since 1897, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

Meanwhile, Afghan Ambassador to the United States Eklil Hakimi also expressed his grief over the loss of life and injuries to innocent people in the blasts. “We condemn this heinous act in the strongest possible terms,” Hakimi said in a statement.

“We greatly sympathise with those affected and offer our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those lost. The city of Boston, along with all of the American people, are in our thoughts and prayers,” he said.

ma

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