US officials have denied recent reports that a suspect has been detained over Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings.
The Associated Press and CNN cited law enforcement officials as saying someone was in custody, but police and the FBI in Boston denied the reports.
Earlier, officials reportedly said a suspect had been identified from security video by the race finish line.
A press conference is due to be held at 17:00 ET.
Police and journalists arrived at a courthouse in Boston amid confusion over whether a suspect had been held in connection with the attacks, which killed three people and left more than 170 injured.
US officials have denied recent reports that a suspect has been detained over Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings
“Contrary to widespread reporting, there have been no arrests made in connection with the Boston marathon attack,” the FBI said in a statement.
“Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate.”
The Associated Press reported that the anonymous law enforcement official who was the news agency’s source for the report that someone was in custody had insisted it was true, even as it was widely disputed.
President Barack Obama, who plans to attend an interfaith service on Thursday in honor of the victims in Boston, labeled the attack an act of terrorism.
Investigators have been sifting through thousands of pieces of evidence, ranging from video recorded on mobile phones to fragments of shrapnel removed from the victims’ legs.
Officials said a circuit board and battery pack – parts of a triggering mechanism – had been recovered and the lid of a pressure cooker, apparently blown off during the explosion, was found on the roof of a nearby building.
The bombs are believed to have consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon (6-litre) pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombs, which a source said had been placed in black bags and left on the ground.
Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.
Boston Medical Center trauma surgery chief Peter Burke said hospitals were saving “large quantities” of fragments extracted from victims for the police. They include metal, plastic, wood and concrete.
“We have a lot of lower extremity injuries, so I think the damage was low to the ground and wasn’t up,” Dr. Peter Burke said.
“The patients who do have head injuries were blown into things or were hit by fragments that went up.”
At least 58 of the injured have been released from various hospitals around the city, according to AP.
Of those that remain, a five-year-old child, a nine-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed as in a critical condition.
The first explosion went off close to the finish line at about 14:50 local time on Monday.
Seconds later, as rescuers were rushing to help the injured, another explosion went off nearby.
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The FBI has released images from the probe into the deadly attack on the Boston Marathon showing details of the bombs used.
Images from a joint Homeland Security and FBI bulletin show the remains of a dark colored backpack and remnants of what appears to be a pressure cooker.
Three people died, including an 8-year-old boy, and more than 180 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of Monday’s race.
The FBI has released images from the probe into the deadly attack on the Boston Marathon showing details of the bombs used
FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers told a news conference that pieces of nylon had been recovered from the scene, along with fragments of ball bearings and nails that were “possibly contained in a pressure-cooker device”.
He said they were being sent to the agency’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where experts would reconstruct the devices to determine their make-up and components.
Richard DesLauriers added: “The investigation is in its infancy. There are no claims of responsibility and the range of suspects and motives remains wide open.”
He urged people to report anyone they had seen acting suspiciously.
“Someone knows who did this,” he said.
Associated Press quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that the bombs consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.
The bombs were put into black bags and left on the ground, the source said.
It has also been reported that a circuit board and battery pack – parts of a triggering mechanism – were also recovered.
Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.
Speaking at the same news conference, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the Boston community would “recover and heal” from the attack.
“This is one community. We are all in this together,” he said.
President Barack Obama will address an interfaith service in Boston for the victims on Thursday morning.
The White House said Barack Obama had cancelled a planned trip to Kansas to speak.
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Boston Marathon bombs were made from 6-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black backpacks, police sources revealed today.
The two bombs killed three people and injured at least 176 at the world’s oldest marathon race on Monday.
The bombs have “frequently” been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a 2010 Homeland Security Department pamphlet – hinting at the origins of the bombers behind the worst terrorist atrocity in the U.S. since 9/11.
When the devices exploded near the crowded Boston Marathon finish line around 2.50 p.m. on Monday, victims suffered as many as 40 shrapnel wounds each and at least 10 people needed amputations.
The bombs used to kill and maim are believed to have contained black powder or gunpowder as the explosive, and information on how to make such a bomb is available on the internet, experts said. The devices were then left at the scene to look like discarded property, CBS News reported.
Boston Marathon bombs were made from 6-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black backpacks
Investigators have also found pieces of an electronic circuit board which could indicate a timer was used in the detonation.
Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, similar devices were used in the failed 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square by Faisal Shahzad, who admitted he had undergone bomb-making training at a militant Islamist faction camp in Pakistan.
A pressure-cooker bomb is also a preferred weapon of al-Qaeda and listed as the “most effective” weapon of jihad, according to an English-language terror magazine called Inspire, in an article entitled “How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom”.
Another article in Inspire last year listed “the most important enemy targets” for jihadists in America – and included sporting events, CNSNews noted.
The aim should be to target “human crowds in order to inflict maximum human losses”, a terrorist known as Abu Musab al-Suri wrote.
“This is very easy since there are numerous such targets such as crowded sports arenas, annual social events, large international exhibitions… etc.”
