Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Authorities are piecing the evidence to prove Tamerlan and his brother Dzhokhar - two suspects- were motivated by the anti-American, radical Islam, the Associated Press reported.
As he lay in his hospital bed with a gunshot wound to the throat, Dzhokhar was charged on Monday with carrying out the twin bombings at the marathon, which killed three and injured over 200 people. They also killed an MIT police officer, as well as seriously wounding a fellow officer. Tamerlan died on Friday in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar could get the death penalty.
Interrogators questioned Dzokhar at the hospital on Monday and Tuesday, allowing him to write down his replies. His answers led them to believe he and his brother were motivated by religious extremism but appeared to have no major terrorist group connections, said U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly, news reprts said.
Two officials commented that Tamerlan frequently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire Magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine endorses lone-wolf terror attacks like the one in Boston.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, and his condition was upgraded from to fair in the last few days. The Tsarnaev brothers are accused and charged with setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs that killed three people, wounding more than 260 during the marathon in Boston.
State prosecutors have said they expect to charge Tsarnaev separately in the killing of the MIT officer, Sean Collier.
Federal Public Defender Miriam Conrad is leading Tsarnaev's defense team. She was was one of three defenders present at the brief bedside hearing held Monday for Tsarnaev at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Tsarnaev is listed in fair condition.
