(Reuters) - Two bombs ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people and injuring dozens in what a White House official said would be handled as an "act of terror."
President Barack Obama promised to hunt down whoever was responsible for the attack on a day when tens of thousands of spectators pack the streets to watch the world-famous race.
Many runners were heading for the finish when a fireball and smoke rose from behind cheering spectators and a row of flags representing the countries of participants, video from the scene showed.
The cheers turned to screams and panic.
"It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven't stopped shaking yet," said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.
Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the scene, and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.
The dead included an 8-year-old boy, the Globe reported, citing two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.
"I saw people who looked like they had their legs blown off. There was a lot of blood over their legs. Then people were being pushed in wheelchairs," said Joe Anderson, 33, a fisherman from Pembroke, Massachusetts, who had just run the race holding a large U.S. flag.
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, 2001 hijacked plane attacks.
Four Boston area-hospitals contacted by Reuters reported a total of at least 67 hurt. Some of those may have been hospitalized for treatment from running the marathon. The Boston Globe newspaper reported that more than 100 people were hurt.
Two high-level U.S. law enforcement officials, who declined to be identified, said one or more bombs caused the explosions at the scene of the marathon, which is run annually on the state holiday Patriots' Day.
"These were powerful devices that resulted in serious injury," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told reporters.
About an hour after the 2:50 p.m. EDT (1850 GMT) blasts in Boston's Copley Square marred the usually joyous end to the marathon, a fire erupted at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library three miles away, but no one was injured, police said. Authorities were uncertain whether the fire was related, Davis said.
In Washington, Obama told reporters, "Make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this."
He said "any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice."
No suspect was in custody. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department, Homeland Security Department and other agencies were all investigating, authorities said.
"EVIL, EVIL, EVIL"
Runners from the marathon and others went to the Massachusetts General Hospital offering to donate blood.
"This was evil, evil, evil," said Kevin Garboit, 46, from the hospital lobby, asking staff if he could donate blood. He was told to come back Tuesday morning.
Without knowing who perpetrated the attack, the White House said it was handling the incident as "an act of terror."
"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," a White House official said.
The two explosions were about 50 to 100 yards (meters) apart as runners crossed the finish line with a timer showing 4 hours and 9 minutes, some 9 minutes faster than the average finish time, as reported by Runner's World magazine.
Of the 23,326 runners who started the race on Monday, 17,584 finished before the blast, marathon officials said. Runners were diverted before officials brought the marathon to a halt.
Spectators typically line the 26.2 mile race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line.
Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion."
Smoke rose 50 feet in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.
"Everybody freaked out," Mitchell said.
The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897. The event, which starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and ends in Boston's Copley Square, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra cancelled Monday night's concert and the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins canceled their home game against the Ottawa Senators. The Boston Red Sox had completed their Major League Baseball game at Fenway Park before the explosions.
Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo won the men's and women's events, continuing African runners' dominance in the sport.
(Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin, Aaron Pressman, Stephanie Simon, Edith Honan, Frank McGurty and Mark Hosenball; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Grant McCool)
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BOSTON — Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 140 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S.
A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.
President Barack Obama vowed that those responsible will "feel the full weight of justice."
As many as two unexploded bombs were also found near the end of the 26.2-mile course as part of what appeared to be a well-coordinated attack, but they were safely disarmed, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.
The fiery twin blasts took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending dense plumes of smoke rising over the street and through the fluttering national flags lining the route. Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.
"They just started bringing people in with no limbs," said runner Tim Davey of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to shield their children's eyes from the gruesome scene inside a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners, but "they saw a lot."
"They just kept filling up with more and more casualties," Lisa Davey said. "Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed."
As the FBI took charge of the investigation, authorities shed no light on a motive or who may have carried out the bombings, and police said they had no suspects in custody. Officials in Washington said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
WBZ-TV reported late Monday that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant related to the investigation into the explosions was served Monday night in Revere but provided no further details.
Police said three people were killed. An 8-year-old boy was among the dead, according to a person who talked to a friend of the family and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person said the boy's mother and sister were also injured as they waited for his father to finish the race.
Hospitals reported at least 144 people injured,
(CNN) -- The FBI is taking the lead in investigating the double bombing that caused death and destruction near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, authorities said.
A range of different agencies are involved in the hunt to find out who carried out the lethal attack and why, but officials are cautioning that very little is known at this point.
"This will be a combined federal, state and local effort," Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston Division, said at a news briefing by law enforcement officials on Monday evening.
Describing it as a "criminal investigation" that is also "a potential terrorist investigation," DesLauriers said the FBI was declaring federal jurisdiction over the matter through the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force.
It wasn't clear Monday whether the origin of the bombings was domestic or foreign, according to a federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. And a state government official said there had been no credible threats ahead of the race.
"People shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts," President Barack Obama said. "But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this."
Obama said that "any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security "are mobilizing the appropriate resources to respond," according to the president.
A law enforcement official in Boston said investigators "have a number of active leads and some good early progress in the forensics analysis" but are yet to identify any suspects.
"The situation remains fluid, and it remains too early to establish the cause and motivation," the FBI's Boston Division said in a statement asking people to call in with any information, images or details related to the explosions.
"No piece of information or detail is too small," it said.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said many people were being questioned.
A federal law enforcement official told CNN that both bombs were small, and initial tests showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive material, suggesting the packages used in the attack were crude devices.
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts said authorities had discovered two other explosive devices that hadn't gone off.
One unexploded device was found at a hotel on Boylston Street near the bomb site, and another unexploded device was found at an undisclosed location, according to Keating, a Democrat and member of the House Homeland Security committee.
He called the bombings a "sophisticated, coordinated, planned attack."
The unexploded devices that were recovered could provide a treasure trove of information such as fingerprints and indications of the bomb maker's design, a federal law enforcement official who now works in the intelligence community said.
And from the bombs that did go off, investigators would be looking for fragments and anything indicating the "signature" of the bomb makers, the official said.
In addition to scrutinizing images of surveillance cameras in the area, the FBI was most likely issuing subpoenas for records from cell towers in the area to isolate and trace calls from around Copley Square at the time of the blasts, according to the official.
As authorities searched the scene, numerous suspicious packages were found, possibly because people fled the area, leaving items behind. Investigators were checking those objects.
Bomb-sniffing dogs were working the area of the bombings and nearby streets, checking every single item on curbs or near the street -- including "every construction cone, every Port-a-Jon" -- to make sure there were no explosive devices left, CNN affiliate WHDHin Boston reported.
Law enforcement officials were also chasing possible leads.
Investigators warned police officers to be on the lookout for a "darker-skinned or black male" with a possible foreign accent in connection with the Marathon bombs, according to a law enforcement advisory obtained by CNN. The man was seen with a black backpack and sweatshirt and was trying to get into a restricted area about five minutes before the first explosion, the lookout notice states.
A Saudi citizen with a leg wound was under guard at a Boston hospital in connection with the bombings, but investigators cannot say he is involved at this time and he is not in custody, a law enforcement official said Monday evening.
After initial suggestions that a third blast Monday, which took place at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, could be related to the marathon bombings, police said that that incident was connected to a mechanical problem.
The library said all staff and visitors were safe.
CNN's John King, Matt Smith, Steve Almasy, Josh Levs and Monte Plott contributed to this report.
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