(Watertown, USA) - 1941 GMT: As the painstaking manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, continues house to house and the city of Boston remains on lockdown with transportation in and out at a standstill, police are releasing little information. We are suspending the Live Report on the search until more confirmed details are available.
1934 GMT: CNN reports that police claim to have found a "significant amount" of homemade explosives at the suspects' home in Watertown.
1911 GMT: The Boston Bruins hockey game and the Big Apple Circus performance is also postponed.
1906 GMT: The Boston Red Sox postpone their game scheduled game against the Kansas City Royals, set for 7:10 pm (2310 GMT) to "support efforts of law enforcement officers."
1852 GMT: In Washington, President Barack Obama is briefed on the fast developing crisis in the secure Situation Room of the White House by senior officials including Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller. The session also includes top foreign policy aides including Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director John Brennan via video conference.
1824 GMT: CNN reports that a black hawk helicopter landed at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, off-loading a 10-person police technical team with heavy weapons. They also quote students who claim to have seen Dzhokhar on campus after the attacks in Boston on Monday.
1810 GMT: Boston police annouce they are looking for another car, a green 1999 Honda sedan. "Possible suspect car. Do not approach."
1755 GMT: US Secretary of State John Kerry refuses to speculate on the implications of the reported Chechen roots of two brothers believed to have carried out the Boston bombings.
"I think it's fair to say that for this entire week we've been in pretty direct confrontation with evil," Kerry says. "I'm not going to get into speculation, I'm not going to deal with a hypothetical. The one thing I will say is: terror is terror. And this underscores the importance of all of us maintaining vigilance and cooperating together internationally.
"Terror anywhere in the world, against any country, is unacceptable. And we need to continue to stand up and fight against it in the way that we are."
"It would just be entirely inappropriate for me to be commenting on the tick-tock around the larger issues outside of it."
1735 GMT: Police announce that people stuck at work since the "shelter in place" order was sent will be allowed to go home. Because public transport is closed, they suggest taking a taxi or calling a friend. Residents are being asked, however, to remain inside their homes once they get there.
1730 GMT: Boston police repeat their plea that media not broadcast live footage of authorities approaching locations to search.
1658 GMT: Amtrak announces that train service to Boston remains suspended, with the big commuter trains going no farther north than New York City. Regional trains are operating, but with no service to Boston.
1655 GMT: Alben said there had been several new leads developed just "in the last few minutes" and promised another briefing in about an hour.
1641 GMT: Massachusetts State Police Colonel Timothy Alben says police will be conducting a "controlled explosion" at a home in Cambridge where one of the brothers is known to have lived. He said about 70 percent of the neighborhood had been cleared, but warned it could be several days before the police operation is finished.
1637 GMT: The governor says the order for residents to stay inside their homes behind locked doors remains in place.
1632 GMT: Governor Deval Patrick comes to the microphone for a press conference, again insisting that he will not be taking questions.
1625 GMT: CNN reports two black helicopters touch down very briefly in the area of Watertown that had been on lock down for several hours. Shortly after the helicopters took off, reporters were being allowed somewhat closer to the scene, one at a time.
1604 GMT: The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth says that Dzhokhar is a registered student. The campus more than 67 miles from Boston, is closed and being evacuated.
1555 GMT: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says in a statement that the two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings did not have any connection with their homeland of Chechnya.
"We do not know the Tsarnaevs. They did not live in Chechnya. They lived and studied in America. What happened in America is the fault of the American special services," he tells RIA Novosti news agency.
"It has become typical to link everything that happens in the world to Chechens, to blame the Chechens, even for the tsunami. "But the accusation is not yet proof that these people are to blame for what happened. In any case they were brought up in America and this is their upbringing."
1548 GMT: Tsarni says "we are ethnic Chechens," but emphatically denies these attacks have anything to do with Chechnya. "They have never been to Chechnya!"
1539 GMT: "Turn yourself in, and ask for forgiveness from the victims, from the injured," Tsarni says.
1536 GMT: Ruslan Tsarni, who says he is an uncle of the two suspects, tells reporters camped in front of his home that he is devastated by reports that his nephews might have been involved in the attacks in Boston.
He emphatically says their only motivation is being "losers" who could not "settle themselves."
"Anything else to do with religion, with Islam, is a fake!"
1515 GMT: Cambridge police announce they are suspending crime tweets in case the suspect is monitoring the search via social media.
CNN reports police have a person surrounded in Watertown who may be an "associate" of the suspect.
1455 GMT: Police confirm they have found the car they were looking for, unoccupied. The Boston Globe reports that police believe the suspect fled the car on foot.
1449 GMT: Boston police say that taxi service is being allowed on city streets.
1444 GMT: The media is being pushed back from a house in Watertown again. CNN shows reporters and cameramen running from the scene as armored vehicles move in, guns drawn. Deborah Feyerick describes shouting and yelling from the scene.
Fox news says shots have been fired.
1433 GMT: A man who says he is their father tells Interfax that they are innocent of any crime.
"In my opinion, my children were set up by the secret services because they are practising Muslims," Anzor Tsarnaev says from the North Caucasus Russian city of Makhachkala.
"Why did they kill Tamerlan? They should have taken him alive," said the father.
He added that the younger brother Dzhokhar "is in hiding. He was a second-year student in a medical university. We were waiting for him to come back (to Russia) for the holidays... Now I do not know what will happen," he said.
1423 GMT: Boston police say they are searching for a small, gray Honda SUV with Massachusetts plates. "Possible suspect car. Do not approach."
1420 GMT: Tamerlan also appears to have had a Russian-language YouTube page that features various links to websites pulled by YouTube as well as to those on Islamic teachings.
One link, called "It's Only Sunnah," features a nearly hour-long speech by an Islamic teacher named Shaykh Feiz Mohammed, while other links are entitled "Terrorists" and "Islam".
1411 GMT: The Moscow Times quotes a spokesman for Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov as distancing Chechnya from the two suspects or their motives.
Spokesman Alvi Karimov said: "These people did not live in Chechnya at a mature age, and if they turned into bad guys, then this is the problem of those who raised them,â?? Interfax reported.
1400 GMT: Media is putting together pictures of the two young men, who lived for several years in Cambridge.
The younger Dzhokhar appears to have been more assimilated, with classmates releasing pictures of him going to formal dances and participating in sports. He won a scholarship in 2011 while enrolled at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, a public high school. He was also named a Greater Boston League Winter All Star wrestler that year.
Tamerlan, 26 -- who was killed during the police chase -- appears to have been featured in an online photo essay by Johannes Hirn entitled "Will Box for Passport," in which he says he has been living in America for five years. The website says Tamerlan, who was studying engineering at Bunker Hill Community College, had taken a year off to train for the National Golden Gloves competition in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them," he is quoted as saying under one of several pictures of him boxing at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts Center, a gym mentioned in an online profile in his name.
He is quoted as describing himself as "very religious" and saying, "God said no alcohol."
But another caption says his favorite movie is "Borat," and one picture shows him with a blonde woman whom he describes as his half-Italian, half-Portuguese girlfriend, saying she converted to Islam. "She's beautiful, man!"
1345 GMT: CNN stops showing live pictures of the police activitiy and say sources have said they believe the suspect is watching.
1339 GMT: The online stream of the Boston police scanner is no longer working. It is unclear if it is because police have shut it down for safety or if it has been overrun by listener traffic.
1321 GMT: The Boston Police asks media to stop broadcasting "tactical positions of homes being searched" which they say compromises officer safety.
1248 GMT: The Boston Globe reports that police are calling into the house through loudspeakers. NBC reports that a person, specifically not a suspect, is in custody in the apartment where the brothers lived in Cambridge.
1244 GMT: Police are seen on the roof of a neighboring building before television cameras are pushed even futher back. CNN starts a delay of a few seconds in order to avoid showing "undue violence."
1239 GMT: A heavily armed vehicle moves toward a street in Watertown and a helicopter circles overhead. Police have guns drawn.
1235 GMT: CNN shows a massive police caravan streaming through the streets of Watertown, lights and sirens on. Reporter Deborah Feyerick says she can smell smoke in the air and is moved futher down the road.
1227 GMT: The VKontakte website attributed to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, includes this joke:
"They have this riddle in school. There is a car. Inside are a man from Dagestan, one from Chechnya and another from Ingushetia. Question -- who is driving the car? Magamed replies -- the police."
1222 GMT: The FBI and police identify the suspect as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge. He is considered "armed and dangerous."
1207 GMT: The unprecedented lock down now extends to almost 900,000 people who have been told not to even open their doors until police lift the alert.
1202 GMT: Police say because of information received in the last 30 minutes, the "shelter in place" recommendation is extended to the entire city of Boston. Police ask everyone to stay indoors with their doors locked. Boston has a population of more than 625,000 people.
1159 GMT: Governor Deval Patrick comes to the microphone to address reporters. He says he will not be taking questions.
1156 GMT: NBC identifies the dead Boston bomb suspect identified as 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
1150 GMT: The Boston Globe reports that some 250,000 are affected by this massive lockdown.
Police tell reporters to stay clear of Suspect #2's apartment in Cambridge, calling the entire street a "dangerous scene."
1139 GMT: The brother on the run is identified as 19-year-old Djohar Tsarnaev.
A Russian-language page on the VKontakte social media website, Russia's equivalent to Facebook, lists a 19-year-old named Djohar Tsarnaev. The site says that he graduated Cambridge Ringe & Latin School 2011, identifies "Islam" as his world view, and "career and money" as his main goals in life.
It also lists information about Chechnya and Islam as well as different mosques around the world, and retells some jokes about the unfair mistreatment of Muslims in Chechnya.
1124 GMT: Sunrise in Watertown shows streets empty to call but law enforcement. Armored vehicles are the only vehicles rolling down the streets.
1118 GMT: All schools in Boston close for the day. Even "essential employees," who would normally report to work even in the event of an emergency, in the Allston Brighton neighborhood, are told to stay in their homes.
Residents are told not to even open their doors to anyone but police with identification.
1106 GMT: The entire area around Watertown is shut down by police. Traffic is stopped and businesses have been told to stay closed. Media is announcing police plans to conduct "controlled explosions" in the neighborhoods.
1102 GMT: US media reports the men have lived in the United States for at least a year.
1058 GMT: NBC News is reporting the two suspects are brothers of Chechen descent.
1048 GMT: Eyewitnesses are starting to describe the dramatic early-morning stand-off.
Peter Jennings, 33, told the Boston Globe he was awoken by a loud explosion at just before 1:00 am (local time).
â??It sounded like a stick of dynamite went off,â?? he told the newspaper.
Jennings told the newspaper the air smelled like â??at the end of a fireworks show, like a wick smell.â??
1036 GMT: Some more details are starting to trickle though about the car-chase, as police say the two suspects hijacked a Mercedes car in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before eventually freeing the terrified driver in Watertown.
Boston police say the first suspect had explosives on his body, and there were fears the second suspect still at large was also strapped with bombs.
1024 GMT: Some of the world's leading universities have been forced to cancel classes amid the ongoing security lockdown near Boston.
Harvard University and MIT cancel classes, citing security concerns.
1013 GMT: A brief recap on the main points in this dramatic manhunt: -
-- Armed police have launched a massive manhunt in Watertown for a gunman who they say is one of the two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing.
-- Police in Massachusetts, confirm that the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing has been killed after a dramatic car-chase and shootout in the sleepy town, which lies some 10 kilometres from Boston
-- Massachusetts authorities urge all Watertown residents to stay indoors and suspend all public transport into Boston, as they tighten the noose in the ongoing search for the 'white-cap' suspect who they describe as "armed and dangerous".
1002 GMT: More details are coming through on the widening manhunt for the 'white cap' suspect.
Boston officials are urging people in western Boston and at least six neighboring towns to stay indoors as Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick authorises the suspension of all buses and trains into Boston.
0951 GMT: Watertown is effectively under curfew as police continue their manhunt and refuse to allow traffic to enter or leave the town.
0950 GMT: POLICE ASK ALL WATERTOWN BUSINESSES TO STAY CLOSED, AND URGES ALL RESIDENTS TO STAY INDOORS
0948 GMT: BOSTON POLICE SUSPEND ALL PUBLIC TRANSPORT
0941 GMT: Officials at the Boston hospital decline to comment if the suspect died from injuries consistent with a suicide bomb.
They confirm that he had "shrapnel and thermal injuries to his trunk" but refuse to speculate on what might have caused the injuries.
0940 GMT: The suspect who was fatally wounded in the shootout, arrived at the Beth Israel Medical Center at 01.10am (local time), doctors say.
He was undergoing CPR as a result of "traumatic arrest" from his injuries, and was pronounced dead at 01.35am (local time)
0930 GMT: The suspect was brought under police guard to the Beth Israel Medical Centre.
Dr Richard Wolfe tells reporters that he died of multiple injuries despite efforts to resuscitate him.
0928 GMT: In an emotional press conference, one of the doctors who treated the terror suspect who was critically wounded in the shootout, describes how he was forced "to set his emotions aside, and do his best regardless of who they are or the circumstances"
0927 GMT: Doctors at a Boston hospital say the 'black-hat suspect' who was killed in the Watertown shootout had "blast and gunshot wounds"
0918 GMT: The dramatic manhunt and car chase took place at 10pm (Boston time) and just in case anyone slept through the shooting and explosions, police are sending robo-calls to every household, ensuring they stay indoors until the suspect is apprehended.
0916 GMT: Hundreds of police carrying shotguns and assault rifles are scouring the streets of Watertown, which lies about 10 kilometres from Boston.
0914 GMT: Boston police say the suspects first tried to rob a convenience store in Cambridge, across the river from Boston, before they carjacked a vehicle before the shootout.
0906 GMT: Police have released some more details of the shootout, and describe how one of the suspects was hit and died later in hospital.
A police officer was shot dead in the shootout while another officer was wounded, Davis said.
0850 GMT: A frightening and nerve-wracking wait for Watertown residents as heavily-armed police set up a 20-block perimeter around the Vasser and Main districts of Watertown as they hunt for the armed suspect.
0846 GMT:Some more information on the 'white hat suspect' who is still at large, who police describe as a light-skinned, Caucasian.
0826 GMT: Boston police say the suspects were terrorists, who 'came here to to kill people'.
0825GMT: Police are advising residents to stay indoors and not let anyone into their home as they conduct house-to-house search for the 'white hat suspect' who they describe as "armed and dangerous".
0823GMT: The Boston Police Commissioner describes the dramatic hunt for the suspects, saying the 'terrorists' threw explosive devices from their SUV during a high-speed car chase through the sleepy town.
0822 GMT: Speaking to The Boston Globe residents described the neighborhood where the police operation is ongoing as usually safe and family oriented.
One newly moved in woman, pointed across an improvised police barrier to a shop where she told the Globe: "I was buying ice cream right there just this afternoon.â??
0812 GMT: Edward Davies Boston Police Commissioner has tweeted: "One suspect dead, one at large, white hat suspect at large."
The white hat suspect refers to the FBI's Suspect Two from their photos.
0803 GMT: Local TV channels are reporting that a Boston marathon bombing suspect captured by police has died in hospital.
0756 GMT: John Atwater, a TV reporter for WCVB, has just tweeted:
"Officer says they are about to detonate a device in the area of Dexter and Laurel. Air horn will precede explosion.
"Officers tonight have said 'explosives are everywhere'â??
0754 GMT: Mass State Police have tweeted: "Police will be going door by door, street by street, in and around Watertown. Police will be clearly identified. It is a fluid situation.
"If any concerns about someone at door, call 911 immediately. Repeat--Do not answer door, stay away from windows, keep doors locked."
0748 GMT: Massachusetts State Police have tweeted: "Residents in and around Watertown should stay in their residences. Do NOT answer door unless it is an identified police officer."
0745 GMT: Police SWAT teams have sealed off the town, reports say, and television reports show police teams moving through the streets block by block.
0740 GMT: Reports say the operation began after a robbery at a gas station was followed by the killing of the police officer on the campus of MIT and a car chase to Watertown.
One suspect was caught in Watertown, which is near Boston, while police are still hunting for the second man.
A second police officer was wounded during a gunfight in Watertown, reports say.
0733 GMT: One resident told NBC News about a police standoff outside his house.
Andrew Kitzenberg said earlier two shooters and police had engaged in gunfire for several minutes. The gunmen used "bombs that looked like grenades," Kitzenberg told NBC News.
0727 GMT: Earlier in the video released by the FBI the two men are seen walking calmly, one a few paces behind the other, weaving between crowds on Boston's Boylston Street where the race finished.
Both appeared to be young men, one dressed in a white baseball cap and the other in a black cap. But the FBI gave no details of their identities or origin, naming them only as Suspect One and Suspect Two.
Rick DesLauriers, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief in Boston said other images indicated the man in the white cap placed a bomb outside a restaurant in the street in the minutes before the blasts tore through the crowds.
0725 GMT: A tweet from a reporter on the ground, Michael Skolnik says police told him: "White suspect with grey hoodie should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Possibly with an assault rifle and explosives."
0720 GMT: The Boston Globe is reporting that police officers and dog units have swept the MIT campus.
Students at the university were earlier told to remain inside while police, including SWAT teams combed the campus block by block, searching buildings, bushes and alleys.
0717 GMT: An FBI agent has told the media that the situation remains extremely dangerous. The Cambridge bomb squad arrived in Watertown shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time.
0715 GMT: The whole drama started some two hours earlier when a gunman shot dead an MIT campus policeman sparking a massive police operation.
This was shortly followed by reports of gunfire and explosions.
MIT is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the Charles River from Boston, where three people were killed and 180 injured in a double bomb attack on the city's marathon on Monday.
Earlier on Thursday the FBI had released pictures and video of two men suspected of planting the Boston marathon bombs, appealing for help to identify the pair who were carrying large backpacks.
Two bombs were placed around the marathon finish line on Monday, spraying nails, ball bearings and other metal fragments into the crowds, many of whom suffered horrific injuries.
0712 GMT: The suspect was caught in Watertown near the US city of Boston after a chase which started with the killing of a police officer at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the newspaper reports.
0710 GMT: The Boston Globe is reporting that police have captured one of the Boston marathon bombing suspects but are still chasing a second suspect.
WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT on the police operation in streets close to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology where gunfire and explosions erupted after a police officer was shot dead.
Local media said one person may have been shot in the incidents as heavily armed police launched a major manhunt following the killing on the MIT campus near the US city of Boston.
