North Korea's daily war bluffs may be (rightfully) ignored by the market, but an unexpected and tragic development comes out of Boston, where local media reports of two explosions and numerous injuries:

Where the blasts occurred, via the WSJ:

What happened:

According to the NY Post there are at 12 casualties so far, although according to the Boston PD 2 are dead and 22 are hurt.

A federal law-enforcement source told The Post there are at least 12 dead and twice as many injured. Law-enforcement sources said at least the first explosion occurred in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel.

Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers in the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.

A more credible report comes from Reuters:

Two explosions hit the Boston Marathon as runners crossed the finish line on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring 23 on a day when tens of thousands of people pack the streets to watch one of the world's best known marathons.

Boston police also reported another explosion at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which is three miles from the marathon's finishing line.

"We are not certain that these incidents are related, but we are treating them as if they are," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told a news conference.

Boston police said two people were killed and 23 injured in the explosions on the marathon scene.

Two high-level U.S. law enforcement officials said one or more bombs were responsible for the explosions.

"It sounded like a sonic boom. I haven't stopped shaking yet," said Melissa Stanley, who watched her daughter cross the finish line four minutes before the explosions.

A fireball rose from behind spectators and a row of flags, video posted on the New York Post website showed. Other pictures showed blood stains on the ground and several people knocked down.

Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 19 victims of the explosion in its emergency room, six of them in critical condition, a spokeswoman said.

Witnesses said two explosions hit as spectators were cheering on people finishing the Boston Marathon, which was first run in 1897.

Reporters in the media center heard two blasts.

Mike Mitchell of Vancouver, Canada, a runner who had finished the race, said he was looking back at the finish line and saw a "massive explosion."

Smoke rose 50 feet in the air, Mitchell said. People began running and screaming after hearing the noise, Mitchell said.

"Everybody freaked out," Mitchell said.

Ambulances, fire trucks and dozens of police vehicles converged at the finish line.

U.S. President Barack Obama was notified and directed his administration to provide whatever assistance was necessary, the White House said. Obama was being briefed by Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and other staff, the White House said.

Authorities tightened security in Washington and New York.

"Blood everywhere, victims carried out on stretchers. I saw someone lose their leg, people are crying," the Boston Globe's Steve Silva reported from the scene, the Globe said on Twitter.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators typically line the 26.2 mile race course, with the heaviest crowds near the finish line. The blasts occurred more than five hours after the start of the race, at a time when most top athletes were off the course but slower amateur marathoners were still running.

The transit agency shut down all service to the area, citing police activity.

Ambulances arrived on the scene within minutes and runners and spectators could be seen crying and consoling each other.

The Boston Marathon has been held on Patriots Day, the third Monday of April, since 1897. The event, which starts in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and ends Boston's Copley Square, attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants every year.

Earlier on Monday, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo won the men's and women's events, continuing African runners' dominance in the sport.





