Boston blast injury toll up to 264: official

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) – A total of 264 people have been treated in Boston area hospitals for injuries suffered in the marathon bomb attacks, the city’s public health commission said Tuesday.

The toll, up from around 200 on Monday, has been rising because people who suffered minor injuries in the blasts last week are only now going in for treatment, said commission spokeswoman Katinka Podmaniczky.

As of Tuesday morning, a total of 51 people remained hospitalized, she told AFP.

The blasts, allegedly carried out by two ethnic Chechens living legally in the United States, killed three people, one of them an eight-year-old boy.

The surviving suspect, 19-year-old Dzorkhar Tsarnaev, himself remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and could face the death penalty if convicted.

His 26-year-old brother Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police.