***UPDATE: Rep. Peter King says pressure cooker bombs are described in Al Qaeda handbook:

“The two bombs that killed three people and injured at least 176 at the Boston Marathon on Monday were made from six-liter pressure cookers crammed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings and stashed in black duffel bags, police sources revealed today,” The Daily Mail noted, adding that the pressure cooker bomb is “a preferred weapon of al-Qaeda and listed as the ‘most effective’ weapon of jihad, according to an English-language terror magazine called Inspire.”

DC EXAMINER – “My understanding is that those pressure cooker type bombs were described years ago in Inspire, the al Qaeda magazine,” King, chairman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, per a rush transcription.

They say these are the type bombs commonly used in Afghanistan and Pakistan:

FOX NEWS – Pressure cookers – possibly activated remotely by a cellphone – are believed to have been used to make the crude bombs that sent deadly shrapnel hurling into a crowd of onlookers and competitors at Monday’s Boston Marathon, experts told Fox News.

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The FBI has not commented on the nature of the two devices used in the blasts, but sources close to the investigation say shredded pieces of pressure cookers were found at the blast sites, indicating the bombs were made from kitchen devices.

A source close to the investigation told Fox News that the style of the device used closely resembles that commonly seen in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another source confirmed that “pressure cookers were used in both devices.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a pressure cooker was attached to a wooden board in at least one of the blasts. The pressure cooker acted as the timer, the source said, and attached to the board was a bottle filled with nails, ball bearings and BB’s. That device was placed inside a black nylon backpack and then dumped in a garbage can, according to the source.

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