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[h=3]There have been no reports that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife went to the FBI to aid with its search. Will she be charged with involvement in the terror attack?[/h]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the FBI is investigating in the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining with his older brother, Tamerlan, who’s now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The bombs were triggered by a remote detonator of the kind used in remote-control toys, U.S. officials have said.
SEE RELATED: Rep. Michael McCaul: Boston bombing suspects had help
U.S. officials investigating the bombings have told The Associated Press that so far there is no evidence to date of a wider plot, including training, direction or funding for the attacks.
A criminal complaint outlining federal charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described him as holding a cellphone in his hand minutes before the first explosion.
The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents.
Enlarge Photo
**FILE** Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican (Associated Press) more >
“I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe — and the way they handled these devices and the tradecraft … that there was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer or trainers,” said Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican, on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Are they overseas in the Chechen region, or are they in the United States?” Mr. McCaul said. “In my conversations with the FBI, that’s the big question. They’ve casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals.”
Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he thought it’s “probably true” that the attack was not linked to a major group. But, he told CNN’s “State of the Union,” there “may have been radicalizing influences” in the U.S. or abroad. “It does look like a lot of radicalization was self-radicalization online, but we don’t know the full answers yet.”
SEE RELATED: Russia caught Tamerlan Tsarnaev and mother on wiretap discussing jihad
On ABC’s “This Week,” moderator George Stephanopoulos raised the question to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee about FBI suspicions that the brothers had help in getting the bombs together.
“Absolutely, and not only that, but in the self-radicalization process, you still need outside affirmation,” responded Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican.
“We still have persons of interest that we’re working to find and identify and have conversations with,” he added.
At this point in the investigation, however, Sen. Claire McCaskill said, there was no evidence that the brothers “were part of a larger organization, that they were, in fact, part of some kind of terror cell or any kind of direction.”
Mrs. McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who’s on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “it appears, at this point, based on the evidence, that it’s the two of them.”
Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, officials have said. He frequently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.
Story Continues
[h=5]Follow Us On[/h]
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[h=5]Question of the Day[/h]
[h=3]There have been no reports that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife went to the FBI to aid with its search. Will she be charged with involvement in the terror attack?[/h]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that the FBI is investigating in the United States and overseas to determine whether the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing received training that helped them carry out the attack.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with joining with his older brother, Tamerlan, who’s now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. The bombs were triggered by a remote detonator of the kind used in remote-control toys, U.S. officials have said.
SEE RELATED: Rep. Michael McCaul: Boston bombing suspects had help
U.S. officials investigating the bombings have told The Associated Press that so far there is no evidence to date of a wider plot, including training, direction or funding for the attacks.
A criminal complaint outlining federal charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described him as holding a cellphone in his hand minutes before the first explosion.
The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents.
Enlarge Photo**FILE** Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican (Associated Press) more >
“I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe — and the way they handled these devices and the tradecraft … that there was a trainer and the question is where is that trainer or trainers,” said Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican, on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Are they overseas in the Chechen region, or are they in the United States?” Mr. McCaul said. “In my conversations with the FBI, that’s the big question. They’ve casted a wide net both overseas and in the United States to find out where this person is. But I think the experts all agree that there is someone who did train these two individuals.”
Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he thought it’s “probably true” that the attack was not linked to a major group. But, he told CNN’s “State of the Union,” there “may have been radicalizing influences” in the U.S. or abroad. “It does look like a lot of radicalization was self-radicalization online, but we don’t know the full answers yet.”
SEE RELATED: Russia caught Tamerlan Tsarnaev and mother on wiretap discussing jihad
On ABC’s “This Week,” moderator George Stephanopoulos raised the question to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee about FBI suspicions that the brothers had help in getting the bombs together.
“Absolutely, and not only that, but in the self-radicalization process, you still need outside affirmation,” responded Rep. Mike Rogers, Michigan Republican.
“We still have persons of interest that we’re working to find and identify and have conversations with,” he added.
At this point in the investigation, however, Sen. Claire McCaskill said, there was no evidence that the brothers “were part of a larger organization, that they were, in fact, part of some kind of terror cell or any kind of direction.”
Mrs. McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who’s on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “it appears, at this point, based on the evidence, that it’s the two of them.”
Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, officials have said. He frequently looked at extremist sites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.
Story Continues