American people refuse to be terrorised: Obama

Washington, April 18 (IANS) Taking up the mantle of healer-in-chief after Monday's terror attack in Boston, President Barack Obama Thursday declared that the American people refuse to be terrorised and whoever is behind the bombings will be caught.

"Yes, we will find you. And yes, you will face justice," Obama said at "Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service" in Boston dedicated to the three people killed and over 180 injured in Monday's bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

"We will find you. We will hold you accountable. But more than that, our fidelity to our way of life ... will only grow stronger, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but one of power and love and self-discipline," he said.

In a moving speech at the service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Obama said, Boston's resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed Monday's Boston Marathon bombings.

"We'll keep going. We will finish the race," he said vowing that a year from now, competitors would return once again to run "harder than ever" in the 118th Boston Marathon.

"Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city. Every one of us stands with you, because after all, it's our beloved city too. Boston may be your hometown, but we claim it, too," Obama said. "For millions of us, what happened on Monday is personal."

"If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorise us, to shake us from those values ... who make us who we are as Americans, it should be clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it (in). Not here in Boston."

The president assured the nation that the "small, stunted individuals" who committed this act would not deter America, and would not deter Bostonians.

"Of that I have no doubt, you will run again," Obama said of the injured, to loud applause. "You will run again, because that's what the people of Boston are made of."

First lady Michelle Obama and Obama's 2012 Republican rival for the presidency Mitt Romney also atended the "Healing Our City" service.

Obama spoke after a number of faith leaders and local officials, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, addressed the somber audience. They spoke of how the city and its people would triumph over that malicious attack.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)