FBI QUIZZES SAUDI NATIONAL OVER BOSTON BOMBING

AS hunt for suspects begins, Saudi national on a student visa was yesterday on the watch list of security operatives over Monday’s bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon in the United States. 

 Also, the eight-year-old boy killed in the explosions has been identified as Martin Richard.

The boy was at the event to watch his father race, according to TV station WHDH.

Richard's mother and six-year-old sister were recovering in a hospital after suffering serious injuries, the TV station reported. It said the boy's mother underwent surgery for an injury to her brain and his sister lost a leg in the explosion.

OBAMA VOWS TO HOLD CULPRITS OF BOSTON BLASTS ACCOUNTABLE

WASHINGTON  (AFP) – President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States did not yet know who was responsible for blasts at the Boston marathon but he vowed to find those accountable and punish them.

“We don’t yet have all the answers,” Obama said. “We still do not know who did this or why,” he added, hinting that he believed the explosions were planned but stopping short of calling them a terrorist attack.

At least two people were killed and three dozen wounded when two explosions struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, sparking scenes of panic.

TERRORISTS ATTACK UNITED STATES AGAIN. 12 FEARED DEAD, 60 INJURED

A series of explosions were reported near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, according to several media outlets. One report quoted “some sort of incident” on Boylston Street, near the finish line.

On Monday afternoon, explosions were detonated near the finish line of the Boston marathon, which attracted 27,000 participants from 56 countries.

Some reports are linking the blasts to terrorism activities. However, there has been no official reaction from the US government. Competitors and race organisers were crying as they fled the chaos, The Associated Press reported. Bloody spectators were being carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners.

14 TERROR SUSPECTS KILLED IN EASTER DAY RAID

Migerian Soldiers raided a suspected hideout for Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in northern Nigeria’s largest city of Kano on Sunday, sparking a clash that left 15 people dead, the military said.

The military claimed that those killed included 14 suspected Islamists and one soldier, while alleging the extremists were planning an Easter day attack in the city.

Residents reported hearing gunfire and explosions early on Sunday as soldiers battled the Islamists.

“In the raid, 14 terrorists were killed and their commander was arrested,” Army Brigadier-General Ilyasu Abba told reporters.

PLANNED EASTER ATTACKS: BOMB-LADEN CAR INTERCEPTED IN KANO

*Rocket launchers, assorted arms recovered

The Kano State Police Command said yesterday that it had foiled plans by some suspected terrorists to attack Kano city.

This is even as Christians in the North are expressing fears of likely attacks by terrorists on Easter Sunday.

The Commissioner of Police, Musa Daura, told journalists at a press conference in Kano that detectives had averted what would have been another tragedy as they intercepted an explosives-laden Volkswagen Golf car.

US ARRAIGNS AL-QAEDA MAN OVER FAILED BOMBING IN NIGERIA

The United States has instituted terrorism charges against Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun for allegedly planning to bomb its diplomatic buildings in Nigeria in 2003.

Among the six charges instituted against him by the US government was also conspiracy to bomb its military personnel in Afghanistanin between 2002 and 2003.

Forty-three years old Harun is to appear before a District Judge, Edward Korman, at a US Courthouse in  Brooklyn, New York, on Friday.

The Saudi Arabia-born citizen of Niger allegedly received al-Qaeda training in Pakistan and traveled to Africa in 2003 with the intent to conduct attacks on United States diplomatic facilities in Nigeria.