Boston marathon bombing suspect finally caught

The 19-year-old suspect wanted in connection with the Boston marathon bombing is in a serious condition in hospital, after a citywide search ended with his capture on Friday night. The suspect, who was on Thursday night involved in a firefight with police in which his alleged accomplice and older brother was killed, was finally corned hiding in a boat in the backyard of a home in Watertown Massachusetts.

The two men were earlier identified as ethnic Chechens who were granted asylum in the United States, having living in the country for close on a decade.

After 24 hours of high drama, joyous scenes could be seen on the streets of Boston. The city, which was under lockdown for most of Friday, was finally able to breathe a proverbial sigh of relief. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was cornered in a boat in a residential backyard.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis says, "A man had gone out of his house after being inside the house all day abiding by our request, he went outside and he saw blood on a boat in the back yard. He then opened the tarp on the top of the boat and he looked in and saw a man covered with blood, he retreated and called us, we set up a perimeter around that boat, and over the next hour or so we exchanged gunfire with the suspect who was inside the boat and ultimately the hostage rescue team of the FBI made an entry into the boat and removed the suspect who was still alive."

This exchange of gunfire preceded the suspects apprehension - he was rushed to hospital in a serious condition. Police say its unclear during which exchange with police he was injured - his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed by police the night before.

Deval Patrick of the Governor of Massachusetts says, "It was a very complicated case, a very challenging case and there are still some questions to be answered but as the Colonel said, because of that extraordinary collaboration and cooperation by all of these law enforcement resources, assets and more to the point, people, who brought their A-game, we have a suspect in custody."

The suspects are accused of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday that killed three people, injuring 176, many whom still remain in hospital. The men are also suspected of killing a campus police officer late on Thursday.

SABC NEWS