Boston heaves sigh of relief as bombings suspect captured

<img style="border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-right: 10px; padding: 1px; float: left; z-index: 0;" class="imgCont" src="http://bsmedia.business-standard.com/_media/bs/img/article/2013-04/16/full/1366083870-9616.jpg" title="Boston" alt="<a href=" http:="" image.shutterstock.com="" display_pic_with_logo="" 879970="" 133613822="" stock-photo-view-of-boston-city-on-the-grunge-american-flag-133613822.jpg"="" "_blank" class="text-align-""" "163" "218">A 19-year-old ethnic Chechen suspected of carrying out the deadly Boston Marathon bombings with his older brother was captured today after an intense 24-hour manhunt that locked down the city, ending a five-day nightmare.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suspected to be behind the twin blasts at the Boston Marathon on Monday was arrested after an exchange of gunfire with the police in which his 26-year-old accomplice brother was killed.

He was captured from a boat, where he was hiding, authorities announced.

Dzhokhar, who was bleeding, was taken to a hospital and was in serious condition, the police said

"Captured!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody," Boston police department said on Twitter after Dzhokar was arrested.

The arrest was later celebrated by hundreds of people, who descended on to the streets of Boston chanting, "USA! USA!"

His capture ended an unprecedented day-long siege of Greater Boston, after a frantic night of violence that left one Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer dead, -an MBTA Transit Police officer wounded, and an embattled public- rattled by the touch of terrorism locked inside homes.

The arrest also ended a five-day long drama after twin bombs, inside pressure cookers, went off in quick succession amidst thousands of people near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 180 others.

Tsarnaev's elder brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the attack, was pronounced dead yesterday after suffering shrapnel and bullet wounds in a gunfight with police.

Dzhokhar was injured when the police shot dead his brother. Dzhokhar had managed to escape from the scene.

President Barack Obama, addressing the nation from the White House, applauded Boston for not allowing the terrorists to prevail.

"They failed because the people of Boston refused to be intimidated," the president said.

He vowed to find out the motives of the Boston bombers, saying that the families of those killed deserved answers, even as the "hateful agenda" of the terrorists had "failed".

"Obviously, tonight there are still many unanswered questions. Among them, why did young men who grew up and studied here, as part of our communities and our country, resort to such violence? How did they plan and carry out these attacks, and did they receive any help? The families of those killed so senselessly deserve answers," Obama said.

"We will determine what happened. We will investigate any associations that these terrorists may have had. And we'll continue to do whatever we have to do to keep our people safe," Obama said.

The State police said Tsarnaev was hiding in the boat parker in the backyard of a house in Water Front neighbourhood of Boston.

The police said they were first informed about the suspect from a resident of the area, who saw blood stains near the boat.

"He opened the tarp and saw a man covered in blood," a police official said. The man retreated and alerted law enforcement officials.

The suspects were brothers from a Russian region near Chechnya, which has witnessed deadly bombings carried out by Islamic rebels.

The duo moved to Kazakhstan before coming to the United States several years ago and were permanent legal residents of the country.