U.S. President Barack Obama says the FBI is investigating the Boston bombings as an "act of terror" -- the day after the attack killed 3 people and sent 176 to area hospitals. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
THE fatal explosions at the Boston Marathon have hints of a right-wing terrorist attack rather than al-Qaeda-inspired extremism, according to one of the world's leading experts on counter-terrorism.
Richard Barrett, the former United Nations co-ordinator for the al-Qaeda and Taliban monitoring team, said it was too early to say who was to blame for the blasts.
But Barrett, who has served with MI5, MI6 and the British Foreign Office, said the timing of the attack on Patriots' Day and the relatively small size of the devices suggested the work of a domestic extremist.
Barrett, who is now senior director at the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies (QIASS), said: "At the moment it looks more likely that it was a right-wing terrorist incident, rather than an al Qaeda attack because of the size of the devices."
He added: "This happened on Patriots' Day, it is also the day Americans are supposed to have their taxes in, and Boston is quite a symbolic city. These are all little indicators."
Professor Greg Barton from Monash University's Centre for Islam and the Modern World said there were "two big possibilities" of who was behind the attacks.
"There's been at least 50 attempted terror plots since 9/11 in the US, almost all of them have been jihadi groups, but the fact that no-one's claiming responsibility for this attack, which took place on Patriots' Day - the day that marks the beginning of the American revolution in Boston - and the nature of the device means that the possibility of a home-grown group, somebody like Timothy McVeigh the Oklahoma City bomber who also detonated on Patriots' Day in April 1995, is a strong possibility," he told 3AW Radio in Melbourne.
Prof Barton said the bombs were "essentially homemade grenades".
Destruction and injured people at the site of the one of the explosions that went off near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
"The pressure vessels to contain the gases from the explosion make it as intense as possible," he said.
"Then it forms part of the shrapnel, along with the nails and the ball bearings."
Prof Barton said someone with military training, a jihadi group, or a right-wing extremist group could make the bombs.
"There's plenty of instruction manuals online unfortunately and if somebody has some technical confidence, this is not that hard to do," he said.
His comments came after US supercop Bill Bratton, a former head of Boston police who is now based in London, warned there are "no shortage of potential suspects" behind the explosions.
Barrett, who is also a former member of a UN task force for promoting global counter-terrorism strategy, said behind the scenes a "very intense" investigation will be unfolding.
"In addition, security arrangements for other events will be quickly reviewed," he said.
The first blast at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Picture: Twitter
"There is Margaret Thatcher's funeral tomorrow and the London Marathon on Sunday. However, there are thousands of these events coming up all the time."
Barrett said the number of right-wing extremist incidents in the US since the September 11 attacks was quite high.
From 2002 to 2007, nine right-wing extremists were indicted for their roles in politically motivated murders.
But between 2008 and 2012, the number mushroomed to 53, according to figures by the New America Foundation.
Before this period, domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph attacked a number of sites including the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda.
And in 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 800.
Barrett said al-Qaeda attacks normally involve terrorists who have trained using instructions from the internet or at a training camp, which usually helps identify them.
In contrast, domestic terrorists operate in isolation or through a small number of acquaintances and often have smaller targets in mind.
"That's why many al-Qaeda terrorists have been thwarted - they're too ambitious," he said.
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