This post has been updated throughout.

UPDATE: The Boston Globe has video of the first explosion, shot by Steve Silva:

YouTube video

A pair of explosions occurred near the finish line of the Boston Marathon at about 2:45 p.m. according to reports by CNN. The area was packed with thousands of spectators who came to watch one of the world’s most famous marathons.

According to the Boston Police Department, there are 2 dead and 23 injured. UPDATE: The Boston Globe is reporting that the toll of injured has increased to 64.

UPDATE: The Times is reporting that the death toll has increased to three, and the number of injured to over 100, and the Boston Globe that one of the slain was an 8-year-old boy. NPR reports at least 150 injured with 17 in critical condition.

The FBI are heading up the investigation and according to the Associated Press, they have “served a search warrant on a home in suburban Boston in the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing attack. Massachusetts State Police confirm that a search warrant related to the investigation was served Monday night in Revere, but they haven’t said anything else. Some investigators were seen leaving the house early this morning, carrying brown paper bags, plastic trash bags and a duffel bag.”

The President addressed the nation Monday evening:

President Obama, speaking at the White House, referred to the Patriots’ Day holiday in his condemnation of the attack, calling it “a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation.”

He vowed to bring those responsible for the blast to justice. “We will get to the bottom of this,” the president said. “We will find who did this, and we will find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

YouTube video

NBC is reporting that “a small homemade bomb” is a “preliminary cause” of the explosion.

We’ll work to confirm additional details as they appear.

UPDATE: Some pictures from the scene:

For more pictures, some extremely graphic, see this collection at The Atlantic.

UPDATE, 4/16: Here’s footage captured by a runner near the finish line:

YouTube video

Here’s what the scene looked like this morning.

UPDATE: The Boston Police confirm that there was a third explosion at the JFK Library in Boston, though thankfully no one was injured. UPDATE II: This is apparently a mistake. There was a fire at the library unrelated to the explosions.

UPDATE: Patton Oswalt comments:

I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out… This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

For more, see Charles Pierce, Ian Crouch, and Nicholas Thompson.

Ryan Cooper contributed reporting.

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Rhiannon M. Kirkland is an intern at the Washington Monthly.