Palace hails bomber’s arrest

Deputy press spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Saturday lauded the arrest of a suspect in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 170 others.

“We’re happy that the second suspect has been arrested,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview on state-run radio.

After door-to-door searches, US policemen cornered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, in a boat in the Boston suburb of Watertown late on Friday.

Tsarnaev’s elder brother Tamerlan, 26, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police during a high-speed chase across Boston early on Friday.

Others detained

Valte also welcomed news that several other people had been taken into custody in connection with the two explosions that marred the marathon last Monday.

No Filipino runner was hurt in the bombings.

“It’s good that they are already in custody. They are already under process of the law. And we hope that this will serve to lessen the grief that is being experienced by the families of those who have gone too soon and to the families of those who are injured and are struggling to get back on their feet, literally and figuratively, to start their lives again,” she said.

President Aquino has condemned the perpetrators of the bombings and expressed sympathy with the families of the victims.

No travel advisory

Malacañang also ruled out any travel advisory to the United States following an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that killed at least 15 people and injured more than 160 others.

“What happened in [West], Texas, that wasn’t a bombing. It was an explosion in a fertilizer plant, so it wasn’t a bombing. The [Department of Foreign Affairs] hasn’t mentioned anything about coming out with a travel advisory,” Valte said.