Boston-area residents came together in prayer and reflection yesterday after a tumultuous week as the lone surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing lay hospitalised under heavy guard apparently in no shape for interrogation.

The 19-year-old college student wanted over the Boston Marathon bombings is seriously ill in hospital and unable to be questioned after a manhunt that left the city virtually paralysed and his older brother and accomplice dead.

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been captured alive and is in police custody, it has been confirmed.

The suspect being hunted in the Boston Marathon bombing is in a boat stored in a Watertown neighbourhood, a law enforcement official says.

No explosives were found at the home of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last night after a day that saw the city shut down.

State Police have warned residents that they will do a controlled explosion of items found in Norfolk Street in Cambridge where the Boston bombing suspects lived.

All Boston residents have been ordered to stay in their homes as the search for the surviving suspect in the marathon bombings continues after a night of violence that left the other suspect - reportedly his brother - dead.

The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing were from the Russian region near Chechnya, sources have told the Associated Press, as a massive police manhunt continues for the surviving suspect.

Sources have told the Associated Press that that the Boston bomb suspects are from a Russian region near Chechnya and have lived in the US for at least one year.

Officials investigating the Boston Marathon bombing said no additional explosive devices have been discovered other than the two that detonated near the race’s finish line, a development that could complicate the case.

As the FBI launched a hunt for those responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings, US President Barack Obama said: “We will find out who did this. We’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice.”

“Several amputations” had to be performed on victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, Massachusetts General Hospital has said.

Three people, including an eight-year-old boy, are now confirmed as dead and more than 100 are injured after two blasts at the finishing line of the Boston Marathon yesterday.