Was Boston bomber inspired by Russia’s Bin Laden?

One of the brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings had direct contact with Chechen terrorists – and was ‘monitored’ by investigators for five years.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that the FBI put Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, under surveillance after receiving an explicit warning from the Russian intelligence services.

But despite apparently telling his mother that Tamerlan was an ‘extremist’ leader, the FBI eventually discounted the possibility that he was a threat.

Rebel: One theory is that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was inspired by Doku Umarov, a Chechen terrorist known as Russia's Bin Laden

Tamerlan was shot dead by police early on Friday while his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar was captured alive but seriously injured with neck and leg injuries on Friday night. He had been hiding in a boat in a suburban backyard.

Last night new details about Dzhokhar’s dramatic capture were released.

Police said he fired at them from his hiding place but, weak through loss of blood from the bullet wounds he had sustained in the shoot-out with police earlier, he eventually gave himself up. ‘He was so weak that we were able to just go in and scoop him up,’ said a police spokesman.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a promising boxer before his ambitions were dashed by a back injury

More details also emerged of the shoot-out after the brothers were cornered in a stolen Mercedes 4x4.

Police said Tamerlan burst out of the car shooting at officers. ‘There were six police officers in this very tight area engaged in a gunfight,’ said police chief Edward Deveau. ‘During the exchange, all of a sudden, something got thrown at my police officers and there was a major explosion,’ he said.

In all, there were three explosions  and 200 rounds were fired during the five-to-ten minute exchange.

It ended when Tamerlan ran out of ammunition, He was on the ground being handcuffed when he was run over by his younger brother as he escaped in the car.

While Dzhokhar’s capture ended a week of tension and drama in Boston, triggering scenes of jubilation and self-congratulation among law enforcement officers, questions will now be asked about how the brothers managed to slip the net.

US congressmen have expressed concern that the tip-off about Tamerlan to the FBI from Moscow may not have been properly followed through.

Yesterday the brothers’ mother, Zubeidat, said the FBI once told her that Tamerlan was ‘really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him’. She added: ‘He was controlled by the FBI for five years. They knew what my son was doing. They were following every step of his.’

And his father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said investigators warned his  son: ‘We know what sites you are on, we know where you are calling,  we know everything about you.  Everything. We are checking and watching.’

The brothers are believed to have placed one of the bombs near to a Boston store where their mother had been sacked for stealing clothes

Despite all this, the FBI found no substantive evidence that he was engaged in terror-related activities though they continued to ‘monitor his internet use and contacts’.

According to an intelligence source, Russia remained convinced that Tamerlan, an ethnic Chechen, was in ‘direct contact’ with Islamist militants, most likely based in the strife-torn southern Russian region of Dagestan, where he lived for two years with his family prior to moving to the US.

During a six-month visit to Russia last year – a trip US investigators are investigating –  it is understood Tamerlan visited Dagestan, which is now regarded as more unstable than Chechnya.

One theory is that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, who was in thrall to his older brother, may have been ‘inspired’ by a rebel leader known as Russia’s Bin Laden.

Doku Umarov, like the Tsarnaev brothers, is an ethnic Chechen from the war-torn Caucasus region that lies between Europe and Central Asia. He has been accused of masterminding some of the worst terrorist atrocities in Russia, including suicide bombings carried out by two women on Moscow’s Metro system in 2010 which killed at least 40.

Significantly, while Umarov was originally fighting only for Chechen independence he has more recently embraced a wider jihadist agenda. 

Threats: Umarov has been accused of being behind some of Russia's worst terrorist atrocities

Umarov has recently widened his fight for Chechen independence to a wider Jihadist agenda

Chechen expert Dr Carlo Gallo, the founder of London-based political risk firm Enquirisk, explained: ‘Umarov has made statements in which he has said that the enemy of Islam is not just Russia but America, though the insurgents have never conducted significant operations outside Russia.’

It raises the terrifying prospect of further atrocities being carried out across the globe by disaffected individuals inspired by the jihadist rhetoric of the former Chechen leaders.

Last night as calls were made for Dzhokhar to be classified as an ‘enemy combatant’, the brothers’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, said Dzhokhar had been ‘used’ by his older brother who had fallen under the influence of a US-based radical of Armenian descent who ‘brainwashed’ him.

Mr Tsarni said that when he met his nephew in 2009 he was troubled by his transformation.

‘I was shocked when I heard his words, his phrases. He claimed he would just put everything in the will of God. It wasn’t devotion, it was, as it’s called, being radicalised.’

For many years, though, Tamerlan and his younger brother had seemed settled in the United States. They were popular at school and excelled at sport. 

Intriguingly Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to 'provide assistance' to the Bostom bombing investigation before any link was made to Chechnya

Settled: Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were popular at school in America and excelled in sport

Tamerlan visited war-torn Dagestan, which is now considered even more unstable than Chechnya

Russia's Bin Laden Doku Umarov was believed to be behind the Moscow Metro bombing in 2010 which killed at least 40

But it became clear yesterday that it was a series of setbacks in Tamerlan’s personal life that rendered him increasingly bitter. Individually, none seems particularly significant, but cumulatively they were  devastating and caused him to turn against his adopted homeland.

Tamerlan was a promising boxer, possibly destined for the US Olympic team, but his dream was shattered by a back injury. At the same time he could only manage to secure menial work, though he was considered bright at school.

He was devastated when his best friend was killed in 2011 in an unsolved murder and then came an incident which investigators believe is particularly significant.

He was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend in 2009 – which scuppered his chance of obtaining American citizenship.

An intelligence source said: ‘There is a view that this more than anything set him against the USA.’

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After his trip to Russia and Dagestan, Tamerlan returned to the US to discover that his mother had been sacked from Lord & Taylor department store in Natick, Massachusetts, for allegedly stealing clothes.

This further enraged him and he became more outspoken in his criticism of America.

The brothers are believed to have placed one of their bombs near the company’s Boston store, possibly in revenge.

A Moscow secret services source indicated yesterday that there had been contact between the two countries during the manhunt, saying that ‘joint work was organised through partner channels’.

Intriguingly, President Putin offered to ‘provide assistance’ to the investigation in Boston before it was known that there was a Chechen link to the bombing.

‘Fighting terrorism is more important than political posturing,’ said a Russian source yesterday.

‘If we work together properly and deeply, we have much more chance of defeating those who want to maim and kill.’

Last night the brothers’ parents defended them, as one lay dead and the other critically ill but stable in hospital. Mr Tsarnaev said there was nothing suspicious about his son’s 2012 visit to Dagestan.‘He wasn’t occupied with anything. He was just visiting relatives,’ he said. ‘I knew what he was doing, where he was going.

‘I raised my children right,’ he added. ‘This is all lies. These are my children. I know my children.’

Tamerlan is thought to have grown a long beard after returning to Boston from his trip to Russia.

Police believe he shaved it off some weeks ago because he wished to remain inconspicuous as he planned the bombing. While denying involvement in any militant form of Islam, Mr Tsarnaev confirmed that the family was religious. ‘What kind of Islam? In Islam we have purity,’ he said.

‘We do what we’re supposed to. We pray five times a day. That’s it.’

And denying that her sons would have hidden any secret extremist leanings from her, his wife said:   ‘That’s impossible. My sons would never keep a secret. Never ever is this true, my sons are innocent!’

Mr Tsarnaev added that he had spoken to Tamerlan after the marathon outrage, telling him: ‘Thanks to Allah you were not close to there and did not suffer.’

He added: ‘I remember I even asked, “Who could do something like that?” ’