The 22-hour manhunt for the surviving Boston bombing suspect reached a dramatic and surprising conclusion on Friday night when 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured alive after being surrounded by heavily armed police in a suburban backyard.

Tsarnaev was found hiding in a boat in the yard of a home in Watertown, the small town where his elder brother Tamerlan was fatally shot by police after a chase which began on Thursday night. The pair had been identified as suspects in Monday's double bomb attack on the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170.

For about two hours, Tsarnaev had been surrounded by Swat teams and hundreds of other officers, surviving a barrage of gunfire and flash grenades. At 8.41pm, it was finally announced over the police radio: "Suspect in custody".

The suspect was injured in Thursday's shootout and had suffered significant blood loss. Police said he was in a serious condition in hospital on Friday night.

When the news came through that Tsarnaev captured alive, Thomas Menino, the mayor of Boston who has been a stalwart throughout the week despite struggling with his own health issues, reacted by saying: "We got him." A large crowd gathered near the location of the suspect's arrest began clapping and shouting "Thank you" as a police ambulance carrying the suspect drove by.

At a jubilant press conference after the arrest, the sense of relief among law enforcement officials was palpable.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/19/fbi-releases-photos-boston-marathon-bombing-suspects/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2013/04/19/suspect-captured-in-hunt-for-boston-marathon-bombers/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/20/boston-suspect-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-captured-alive