MIRROR.UK : Boston bombers: FBI hunting 12-strong terrorist
"sleeper cell" linked to brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
21 Apr 2013 00:01
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/boston-bombers-fbi-hunting-12-strong-1844844
Police believe the pair were specially trained to carry out the devastating
attack
Covered boat: Fugitive was found in back yard Covered boat: Fugitive was
found in back yard
AP
The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist "sleeper cell" linked
to the Boston marathon bomb brothers.
Police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were specially trained to
carry out the devastating attack.
More than 1,000 FBI agents were last night working to track down the cell
and arrested a man and two women 60 miles from Boston in the hours before
Dzhokhar's dramatic capture after a bloody shootout on Friday.
A source close to the investigation said: "We have no doubt the brothers
were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were
highly sophisticated and not the kind of thing people learn from Google.
"They were too advanced. Someone gave the brothers the skills and it is now
our job to find out just who they were. Agents think the sleeper cell has up
to a dozen members and has been waiting several years for their day to
come."
A specialist team of CIA and FBI interrogators was yesterday flown to a
Boston hospital to grill wounded Dzhokhar, 19, about the secret group. The
University of Massachusetts student was caught on Friday after hiding out in
a boat parked in a garden in locked down Watertown the day after a gun
battle with police left his 26-year-old brother and a rookie cop dead.
Dzhokhar is said to have run his brother over as he escaped in a stolen car
while Tamerlan lay handcuffed on the ground. They were carrying six bombs
with them at the time, three of which -exploded, as well as a handgun and
rifle. The devices were thought to be pipe bombs.
Last night Dzhokhar - badly wounded but alive - lay handcuffed to his
hospital bed under armed guard. The other three arrested in the port of New
Bedford are also believed to be of college age.
Still infrared image from police search of boat where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was
found hiding An aerial infrared image shows the outline of Dzhokhar hiding
in the boat
AP
Dzhokhar even went to a college party two days after the bombs wreaked havoc
at the finish line. According to fellow students, he "looked relaxed" as he
joined in a party at the campus on Wednesday night.
Hours later he was involved in the shootout which saw his brother killed.
Investigators have begun piecing together how the "well-mannered" brothers
of Chechen origin were radicalised. Neighbours of the family said older
brother Tamerlan had recently become obsessed with Islam. He mysteriously
left the US in January last year to spend six months in Russia. Yesterday
senior FBI counter-terrorism official Kevin Brock said: "It's a key thread
for investigators."
It also emerged the Bureau interviewed Tamerlan two years ago, at the
request of the Russian government, but could not establish that he had ties
to terrorist radicals.
This was despite his worrying Russian-language YouTube page featuring links
to extremist Islamic sites and others since taken down by YouTube.
One link showed an hour-long speech by an Islamic teacher called Shaykh Feiz
Mohammed, while other videos are labled "Terrorists" and "Islam".
The radical cleric, with links to extremist British Muslims, encouraged his
followers to become martyrs for Islam. He said: "Teach them this: There is
nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid."
Yesterday the brothers' mother Zubeidat, speaking from her home in Russia,
added further intrigue to her sons' murky past when she claimed the boys had
been framed by the FBI over the two bombs last Monday that left three dead
and 178 injured.
Chechen bombers: Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev at the Boston
Marathon
AP
She claimed the FBI had been keeping watch on her eldest boy for up to five
years. She said: "They knew what my son was doing. They knew what sites on
the internet he was going to.
"They were telling me that he was really an extremist leader and that they
were afraid of him. They told me whatever information he is getting, he gets
from these extremist sites. They were controlling him."
The bombers' father Anzor wept at news that his youngest son had been
captured alive. In a phone interview with a US news channel he told his
son: "Tell police everything. Everything. Just be honest."
US Government officials have said the brothers were not under surveillance
as possible militants. And an FBI statement said the matter was closed
because interviews with Tamerlan and family members "did not find any
terrorism activity, domestic or foreign". But now they believe the pair, who
emigrated to the United States from Dagestan about a decade ago, were part
of a terror cell.
College dropout Tamerlan's American wife Katherine Russell, 24, and their
three-year-old daughter Zahara were yesterday thrown into the spotlight. She
was a Christian before they married but converted to Islam. Her parents
Warren, a doctor, and Judith were said to be "stunned" by their son-in-law's
involvement in the tragedy.
Judith and Warren issued a joint statement saying: "Our daughter has lost
her husband today, the father of her child. In the aftermath of the
Patriot's Day horror, we know we never really knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Our
hearts are sickened by the horror he has inflicted."
Katherine, wearing a black hijab, was picked up by FBI agents at their home
in Cambridge near Boston on Friday. Dope-smoker Dzhokhar was captured after
a Watertown resident called police to say the fugitive was hiding in a boat
in his back garden.
David Henneberry had gone into his garden for a cigarette after police
lifted restrictions on people leaving their homes, believing the bomber had
left the area. He noticed that the cover over his boat had blood on it and a
strap had been cut. He went back into the house to get a stepladder and
looked inside.
His stepson Robert said: "He stuck his head under the tarp and noticed a
pool of blood and something crumpled up in a ball. Instead of being a hero
of the moment and yelling at what we now know was the suspect, he did the
right thing and called 911."
Police immediately evacuated the family and surrounded the house, using a
megaphone to tell Dzhokhar to come out with his hands up.
When he failed to respond they opened fire at the boat's hull. Robert said:
"They wound up -shooting a couple of rounds through the boat. He wasn't
going to like that."
Dzhokhar was wounded by the volley of gunfire and police were able to move
in and arrest him. They later released infrared pictures taken from a
helicopter showing Dzhokhar hiding in the boat.
Investigators will interrogate the bomber, still seriously ill last night,
without reading him his rights - using special "public safety" powers.
The family of eight-year-old bombing victim Martin Richard welcomed the
arrest of Tsarnaev. "Our community is once again safe from these men," the
family said in a statement.
Shortly before Dzhokhar's capture, President Obama spoke by phone to Russian
President Vladimir Putin. The White House said Obama "praised the close
co-operation the US has received from Russia on counter-terrorism, including
in the wake of the Boston attack".
There were scenes of celebration across Boston as news spread of the capture
of the remaining bomber.
Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk
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