New York Rep. Peter King suggested on Tuesday that the Boston Marathon bombings might indicate “the new war with al-Qaida.”
“This may be the new war with al-Qaida: smaller attacks with people who are under the radar screen,” King told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. “Many al-Qaida groups are using Americans with clean records.”
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In discussing possible scenarios behind the bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170, King, the former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, suggested that the pressure cooker-devices that investigators discovered in the bombings have been used in al-Qaida attacks in the past.
Editor's Note: LIGNET: Was al-Qaeda Behind the Attacks?
He noted the 2010 attempted bombing in Times Square in New York.
“Al-Qaida has been more associated with iconic events, athletic events — lots of carnage, with a lot of innocent people hurt,” King told CNN.
He added that “al-Qaida in its literature has been calling for attacks on athletic events.”
Earlier Tuesday, King told Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show” that the Saudi Arabian “person of interest’’ in the bombings had not been ruled out as a possible suspect.
“I’m not sure that the 20-year-old Saudi has been ruled out,” King said. “The media has been too quick to run with that.
“I’m not saying he is a target or anything else, but I also don’t believe that he’s been ruled out,” King continued. “I would wait until that’s officially announced, until we get a better announcement on that. They did raid his house.’’
King said the court-ordered search warrant obtained to enter the man’s home proves that law enforcement officials “had to show some sort of probable cause to raid someone’s home. I just wouldn’t be that quick to rule it out.
“Also to say that al-Qaida … that certainly has not been ruled out. It could still be domestic terrorism, it could be al-Qaida, but there’s certainly a lot of evidence indicating it could be al-Qaida.’’
King said the synchronization of the bombings, the use of ball bearings, and that it occurred at a large, public event, “would indicate that al-Qaida is a main suspect.
“On the other hand, usually al-Qaida will take full responsibility within 24 hours and they haven’t done that yet.’’
King said there is “nothing definite’’ about suspects in the case so far and authorities are waiting for more evidence from the scene to be sifted through.