Washington: Chechen-born Boston bombers had planned to carry out a suicide attack on American Independence Day on July 4, but they decided to prepone the D-day as their home-made pressure cooker bombs were ready earlier than expected.
The crucial information was provided by the lone surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, in his interrogation to the federal investigators, US media reports said Friday.
Dzhokhar, who was arrested from a Boston neighborhood on April 18, has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.
If convicted he faces life imprisonment.
His elder brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 29, was shot dead by police on April 18, three days after the Boston Marathon blasts that killed three people and wounded over 200 others.
Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar initially planned to carry out a suicide-bomb attack on July 4, a US law enforcement official was quoted as saying by the CNN.
The unnamed official said Dzhokhar told investigators their bombs were ready earlier than they expected and they decided to move up the date.
It is unclear which specific event would have been targeted but one of the biggest July Fourth celebrations in the country is held in Boston, it said.
Citing unnamed officials, several media reports said Dzhokhar told investigators that the pressure cooker bomb was made by Tamerlan inside his apartment.
“The explosives used in the Boston Marathon bombings were likely made in the Massachusetts home of suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev,” Fox News reported. Afer making the bombs, they drove around the city to identify the possible locations for an attack.
“They surveyed these police stations, multiple stations in Boston and one in Cambridge. They built the bombs so fast that they decided to move the whole plan up,” an unnamed official was quoted as saying by Boston Globe.
The computer used by Dzhokhar was turned over to the FBI by one of his friend Dias Kadyrbayev, who was arrested by the police on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Tamerlan’s body was claimed Thursday and was picked up by a funeral home.
The cause of his death has not been released now. According to Boston Globe, Kheda Saratova, a human-rights worker, said the Tsarnaev family does not intend to bury him until they find an independent coroner to deliver an opinion.
“The family is afraid that if Tamerlan is buried before they get all the answers, many secrets will be buried with him, and this will make it harder for Dzhokhar to defend himself in court,” he said. (PTI)