What the hell?

twitter saying 2 dead, 23 injured, 10 of those with emergency amputation.

What an awful thing to happen, especially at a marathon

There are some seriously sick people in this world. What a horrible thing to do and how awful for the people caught up in it all.

People get blown up by the hundred every day. Whether it's an Iraqi market, Afghan policemen or Boston runners, this sick psychotic behaviour is probably the signature of modern times. We are infested with sick ideologies, and it will only get worse. It's just a footnote in a severely depressing roll-call of ideological carnage without end. And don't worry, whatever scum are responsible, you'll find plenty - maybe even some on here - who will apologists for it.

There's already talk of ramping up security for the London marathon, but ateotd you can never stop the nutters, and whatever extra disruption they cause is viewed by them as a bonus.

I don't have any answers. All I expect is regular doses of the same, for the foreseeable, as well as mudslinging as to why it wasn't prevented, and doubtless conspiracy theories that Bush did it.

What a mean old scene.

There are already conspiracy theories that it was done by North Koreans and that it was done by the US Government so they can blame it on the Koreans.

But still, innocent people, people out completing a marathon for charity have been injured and killed. It's not right and it's not nice.

Odd timing - you would have thought if someone was going for maximum impact they would have timed it to coincide with either the elite athletes finish, or between three and four hours when the bulk of the fun runners are going to be coming in.

Very early to start jumping to conclusions about the who and the why, not that it'll stop folk from doing so.

Third explosion now.

I wonder how many old Bostonians gave any thought to potential consequences when they were actively contributing to "the cause" during the 70s & 80s?

Or attack the start of the race, when everyone is in the same place.

Terrible scenes, my heart goes out to all those involved or affected.

There's some seriously sick people we share this planet with.

According to the BBC's correspondent, there was due to be a controlled explosion as a further device had been found.

the JFK library was a fire not an explosion, apparently unrelated

i have little faith left in the human race to be honest.

the world is mad, with violence by the bucket load the norm.

reports circulating that one individual finished the marathon then insisted he was taken to the hospital to donate blood. what a star.

Would that be sensible? Wouldn't his blood be packed with lactic acid and other by products of the body being under severe stress?

better than no blood surely?

desperate times and all that...

I would be surprised if they didn't have sufficient blood to deal with the number of injured there are in this case. But its a great gesture nonetheless.

Meanwhile in Iraq there's been 30 bomb blasts today with 50 dead and countless injured.

Iraq wasn't on the news agenda.

Time you got with the programme matey

The odd thing was, I switched on Al Jazeera, yet it had wall-to-wall Boston, and all the time I watched they never mentioned the day of utter carnage in Iraq either.

I get how bad planting bombs is, but on the same day, around 90 Americans will have dies on US roads, a similar number will have died of gunshot wounds, and each of their deaths will be an equal tragedy to their loved ones. I really hate it when they select something like this to go wall-to-wall and on endless loop. Clearly 2 deceased in USA is worth factors more than 50 in Iraq.

I could even understand US stations giving it saturation coverage in a way, but why does it justify taking over UK screens for days? Who makes these decisions?

The Yanks should just blame it on [iinsurgents.
[/i
It works for them after the state they've left Iraq in.

I wonder where the funding came from to kill two young boys in my home town of Warrington?

Heard on sky sports news that an eight year old has been confirmed dead.

That was my view of the whole thing. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and countless other places will have suffered the same (if not greater) loss of life in similar circumstances, but yet they receive next to no coverage. Are terrorist acts more tragic when they occur in western countries? Do the dead mean more to their communities if they have pale skin? Yes, it's tragic, and by all means cover it, but the wall-to-wall blanket coverage is totally unnecessary. I mean, on BBC News last night, they were interviewing a student who wasn't even there when the blast took place.

What tosh. Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria have all had loads of coverage. Boston happened yesterday so it gets coverage now. I suppose if it had been the London Marathon at which bombs had exploded, you wouldn't want it to get any coverage either, yes? After all, London isn't Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria either.

one attack yesterday killed 33 in Iraq.

And unless you are in Iraq you will have discovered that fact via the media, which according to some isn't reporting on Iraq at all.

The Boston bombs (and around 17 additional individuals are on the critical list so may die to add to the three confirmed dead) happened yesterday. They also have a direct impact on the UK for this weekend, given that it is the London Marathon when even more people will be milling around.

Iraq, Syria, North Korea .... the list of tragedies in the world is endless. However, that does not detract from the tragedy that happened in Boston yesterday.