Boston Marathon bombs were nail-filled pressure cookers

Joint FBI and Homeland Security photographs have indicated the Boston Marathon bombs may have contained metal shrapnel tightly packed in pressure cookers. 

The devastating explosives, which resulted in three deaths and over 170 injuries, were described by special agent Rick DesLauriers in a press conference as “fragments of nails that could have been contained in a pressure cooker device”.

This revelation follows FBI forensic evidence recovery efforts with help from Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the ultimate goal to recover physical items of evidence at the site of the blast. 

Also recovered from the crime scene were pieces of black nylon, which could have been from a backpack. The items recovered are to be sent to FBI labs in Quantico, Virginia, for a complete and thorough analysis.

Though pieces are beginning to fall in place, hopes of finding a perpetrator remain, so far, premature. 

A full investigation involving over 1,000 officers is underway, while DesLauriers indicated the attacker may have already revealed himself. He said: “The person who did this is someone’s friend, co-worker or relative. Someone knows who did this.”

Meanwhile, Dr Morris Taylor, a terrorism expert with Southern Illinois University, though hesitant to point a finger, indicated the culprit may have been a right-wing extremist and even hinted at the possibility of further attacks. 

Speaking to USA TODAY, Dr Taylor said: “Given the symbolic nature of patriot day, Boston marathon, and all the participants there, [the bombings were] perfect for, in some degrees, maybe even a trial run.” 

Though concerns remain, the London Marathon is to go ahead on Sunday as planned. A 30-second silence will be held at the start as a mark of respect.

Keumars Afifi-Sabet