WASHINGTON, April 26 (RAPSI) – The two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing last week planned to follow up the attack by detonating as many as six explosive devices in New York City’s Times Square, RIA Novosti reports, quoting the US officials.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had "planned to travel to Manhattan to detonate their remaining explosives in Times Square," New York City police chief Raymond Kelly told a news conference Thursday, citing information provided by investigators into the Boston attack.
Dzhokhar first told investigators that he and his brother were headed to New York City to party after the marathon attack, but when questioned later he said they changed plans and intended another attack there, Kelly said.
Two blasts occurred on April 15 at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, America’s most prestigious 26.2 mile race which boasts such stringent entry requirements that only the best of the best are entitled to compete. Three people have been confirmed dead, including an eight-year-old boy present to cheer on his father. More than 180 people were reported as injured.
The older Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan, 26, died during a shootout with police on Friday. A few hours later his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, was captured after a manhunt that shut down much of Boston and its surrounding areas. He remains in a Boston hospital where he is being treated for injuries to his head, neck, legs and hand.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that the brothers had planned to head north to bomb Times Square, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday.
“[Wednesday] night, we were informed by the FBI that the surviving attacker revealed that New York City was next on their list of targets," Bloomberg said. “He told the FBI that he and his brother intended to drive to New York to detonate explosives in Times Square.”
Dzhokhar has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction, which could carry the death penalty.
The Tsarnaev brothers are suspected of having planted the homemade bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, killing three people and injuring more than 200.
The suspects’ father, a resident of the turbulent region of Dagestan in southern Russia, said he plans to visit the United States “as soon as possible.”