Does Larger Chechen Network Exist In U.S.?

Brothers who perpetrated Boston bombing used device favored by al-Qaida

WND

F. Michael Maloof

WASHINGTON – While investigators still are trying to determine whether the Boston Marathon bombers now identified as Chechen Muslims had external contacts, analysts say that the two perpetrators may have received training at camps linked to al-Qaida.

The suspect bombers of Chechen origin are Tamerlan Tsarnayev, 26, and his brother Dzokhar, 19. 

After an overnight shootout in the Boston area of Watertown between the brothers and police, Tamerlan was killed. Authorities say the brothers also killed a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while a transit police officer was wounded.

It is unknown whether Tamerlan was shot by police or possibly blew himself up. There is an indication that he was wearing a suicide vest. Dzokhar remained at large, although police have converged on an area where he is believed to be cornered. There is similar concern that he, too, may be wearing a suicide vest.

Police reports say the brothers have been in the United States since they were children, raising the question of whether their alleged bombing and subsequent shootouts constitute domestic or international terrorism.

Authorities reportedly are attempting to determine whether the brothers were part of a sleeper cell network, loners or tied to a larger network of Chechens or al-Qaida-affiliated groups in the United States.

Chechen Islamist radicals, being Sunnis, are linked to al-Qaida.

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Reposted with permission.