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Investigators Questioning Surviving Boston Bombing Suspect
By: Associated Press
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UPDATE 11:25 a.m. Two U.S. officials say slain Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda in the run-up to last week's marathon attacks that killed three people and wounded 180.
Authorities believe neither Tamerlan nor his younger brother Dzhokhar had links to terror groups. But law enforcement officials have concluded based on an early interrogation and other evidence that the two brothers were motivated by an anti-American, radical version of Islam.
On Tuesday, two officials said that Tamerlan frequently looked at extremist propaganda, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication aimed at aspiring lone-wolf terrorists.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Officials have interrogated the 19-year-old charged with the Boston Marathon bombings but say that because he communicated in writing, it precluded the type of back-and-forth exchanges often crucial to establishing key facts and meaning.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged Monday in his hospital room, where he is in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the throat suffered during his attempted getaway. His brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, died Friday after a gunbattle with police.
The brothers appear to have been motivated by a radical brand of Islam but do not seem connected to any Muslim terrorist groups, say U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
A probable cause hearing has been set for May 30.