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Boston bombers DID plan to attack Times Square: Suspect tells



The Boston bombers planned to unleash a devastating terror attack on New York City - armed with a pressure cooker bomb and five pipe bombs - that would have caused 'significant' casualties.


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed on Thursday that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told the FBI that he and his older brother Tamerlan intended to travel to New York from Boston on Friday- targeting the thousands of tourists and revelers in the city's Times Square.

Speaking at an afternoon press conference, Bloomberg said that despite the city having heightened security following the marathon attacks, 'We don't know if we would have been able to stop the terrorists had they arrived here from Boston.'

The startling revelations added pressure onto U.S. authorities who are coming under fire for their handling of the case.


Especially how the FBI dealt with warnings from Russian intelligence over Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his visits to terrorist hotbed, Dagestan.


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New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, (left), and Mayor Michael Bloomberg hold a news conference, Thursday, April, 25, 2013 in New York where they revealed the Boston Marathon bombing suspects intended to blow up their remaining explosives in Times Square






New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly (left) speaks as Mayor Bloomberg watches during a news conference to discuss the Boston Marathon bombing suspects plan






Dzhokar Tsarnaev, pictured in November of 2012 in Times Square with friends - the FBI is in touch with a number of the individuals in this photograph



Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that the two men accused of carrying out last week's bombing of the Boston Marathon, planned an additional bomb attack on New York's Times Square




Boston suspects planned attack on Times Square


Praising the work of law enforcement in Boston in apprehending and catching the Tsarnaev brothers, Bloomberg said that New York was 'lucky' it never had to find out.

Both Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly spoke at the briefing where they revealed that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told Boston investigators from his hospital bed that he and his brother had discussed going to New York to detonate their remaining explosives.


'Last 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 at New York City Hall.


'He and his older brother intended to drive to New York and detonate those explosives in Times Square.'

Kelly confirmed to reporters the two suspects had a pressure cooker bomb and five pipe bombs they wanted to set off to kill and maim in New York City.




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While they haven't had the opportunity to speak to the teenager, both men confirmed that Dzhokhar told law enforcement that the plan was 'spontaneously' arranged after they had hijacked a black Mercedes SUV in Boston late on Thursday evening.

However, it was also claimed that the two terror suspects aborted their adrenaline fuled plan when they realized they had no gas.

Stopping to collect some, the owner of the car they were holding hostage managed to escape and alert police - who then engaged the pair in a ferocious gun battle which led to Tamerlan's death and Dzhokhar evading authorities for a further 21 hours.

While the investigation into these new developments continues, Bloomberg said that Dzhokhar visited Times Square in April 2012 and November of the same year.

Three people died and over 260 were wounded in the 15th April Boston attack.

In 2010, Times Square was targeted with a car bomb that never went off. Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad had planted a bomb in an SUV, but street vendors noticed smoke and it was disabled. Shahzad was arrested as he tried to leave the country and was sentenced to life in prison.


Other plans: New information suggests that Tamerlan, right, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, left, may have been planning to attack New York next

Authorities do not know if Dzhokhar's visits were connected to his and his brother's planned terror attacks on New York City.

Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston, would not comment on whether authorities plan to add charges based on alleged plan to attack New York.

For Ray Kelly today's admission of an avoided terror attack on New York city represented a complete 180 degree on his statements yesterday.

On Wednesday he said that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were headed to the Big Apple to 'party' - but now officials know that the two brothers had at least discussed the possibility of carrying out another terror attack on American soil.

Dzhokhar was interrogated in his hospital room over a period of 16 hours without being read his constitutional rights.


He immediately stopped communicating after a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney’s office entered the room and gave him his Miranda warning, according to a U.S. law enforcement official and others briefed on the interrogation.

Today unnamed officials issued a cautionary note that the Tsarnaev's plan was underdeveloped - with one senior official describing the plan as 'aspirational at most' to NBC News.

This harrowing confirmation suggests that the duo behind the Boston Marathon bombings were not finished, and were headed to New York City with additional bombs.

But their plans were abandoned as police caught up with them, engaging the Tsarnaev brothers in a wild shootout in which 26-year-old Tamerlan was killed.



Times Square 2010: In this handout image provided by the New York Poice Department, a surveillance image of a dark SUV, is the vehicle with a bomb that was discovered before it could be detonated in Times Square on May 2nd, 2010

Dzhokhar, 19, was seriously wounded in the gun-battle and is currently recovering in a Boston hospital.

The startling information that a New York attack was real reportedly came from the Chinese man who was carjacked by the suspects early on Friday morning.

He told investigators that the men did not speak English but he recognized the word 'Manhattan' in their conversation.

CBS' John Miller reported that the information 'tripped a lot' of alarm for authorities, who reacted by cutting Amtrak train service from Boston to New York and searched trains on Friday.


Miller additionally reported that the NYPD activated 'license plate readers at all bridges and tunnels coming into the city' with the hope of intercepting the suspects before they reached the Big Apple.


On the run: A man thought to be 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev enters a gas station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wearing a gray hoodie and carrying snacks on Thursday evening. He appears to be followed by her brother Tamerlan in a beige cap

He was arraigned on Monday and has reportedly confessed his role in the bombings to federal investigators.

However, it has now been reported that since he was read his Miranda Rights he has become less co-operative with authorities.


On Tuesday, images were released that showed suspected bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with his arms full of snacks and soda as he and his brother Tamerlan attempt a getaway after becoming prime terror suspects.

Dressed in a grey hoodie, the surveillance footage is believed to show 19-year-old Dzhokhar as he enters a gas station in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


The man following him into the store in the beige cap appears to be 26-year-old Tamerlan.


In another image, Dzhokhar is seen wearing a beige flat cap pulled low at an ATM machine, withdrawing $800.


The card was stolen from a man taken hostage by the alleged terrorists after he was car-jacked last Thursday during the bombers' chilling but futile plan to travel to New York.





Chilling: Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, now wearing a beige cap, captured on camera using an ATM card hours before a police shoot-out where his brother and accomplice died

The victim was able to jump out of the car and flee while the alleged terrorists went to buy snacks.


From interviews with the staff at both gas stations and court records, MailOnline has been able to piece together the frantic events of the early hours of last Friday.

The terrifying sequence of events began when Tamerlan carjacked a Mercedes SUV car at gun point barely 40 minutes after MIT campus police officer Sean Collier was killed as he sat in his patrol car.

Tamerlan jumped into the passenger seat of the Mercedes and told the driver: 'Did you hear about the Boston explosion... I did that.'

Dzhokhar was caught on a CCTV camera entering an all night garage with his face partially hidden by a grey hooded sweatshirt.

But he left empty handed after his brother Tamerlan hammered on the glass front door of the gas station kiosk saying: 'We've got to go.'

His intervention came after the victim of the carjacking managed to escape and run across to another all night gas station across the street where he pleaded with the cashier for help.







Trapped: With his head down and wearing a cap, the suspected terrorist withdraws money from the machine hours after a surveillance picture of him had been beamed around the world


Escape: The two bombing suspects pulled up at the Shell gas station to use a stolen ATM card from a man they had taken hostage. He managed to escape to the Mobil gas station across the street and call for help (right)

The images were released on Tuesday as Dzhokhar told investigators that his brother orchestrated the attacks because he 'wanted to defend Islam from attack'.

In scrawled notes from his hospital bed, the 19-year-old told Guantanamo Bay interrogators that he and his brother were not linked to any Islamic terrorist groups.

According to CNN, Dzhokhar said his older brother, Tamerlan, 26, was the ringleader in the attacks that shook the nation a week ago, but that the pair were working alone.



On the run: One of the alleged bombers enters a store last Thursday as a huge manhunt got underway which led to his capture



After the shootout: Investigators take a look at a car driven by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects after they exchanged gunfire on a residential street in Watertown


The dramatic escape of the carjacking victim was the beginning of the end for the alleged bombers as they were found by police and involved in a fierce gun battle.

Tamerlan was shot multiple times, while his brother was later found cowering in a covered-up boat and taken into custody.

After encountering Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the terrified victim was shown a gun and forced into the passenger seat.

After picking up his brother, and transferring guns and bombs into the trunk, the car spend off.

Tamerlan was driving and his 19-year-old brother was in the rear passenger seat. The victim was in the front passenger seat.

After being forced to hand over $45, they drove to an ATM where $800 was withdrawn from the victim's account.

All three headed towards an all night Shell garage on Memorial Drive in Cambridge where Tamerlan pulled up alongside one of the gas pumps.

Dzhokhar went inside - and was captured on the CCTV camera at the front of the store.

The photograph was released by the FBI hours after the impromptu stop and gave law enforcement and members of the public a much clearer view of the alleged bomber.

The image with Dzhokhar wearing a hoodie was clearer than those released earlier by the FBI which been taken prior to the bombs going off at the finish line of the marathon.

Mohammed Malah, 46, was working the night shift but paid little attention to the customer who headed to the row of fridge where the drinks were stored.



Last stand: A police officer points his rifle in Watertown, Massachusetts, as authorities hunt for the Boston bombing suspects



Deadly shootout: In a gun battle where over 200 shots were fired, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was hit multiple times

He only realized he had been with the alleged bomber when the FBI swarmed into garage in the early hours of the morning last Friday.

They had been alerted to the garage stop by the carjacking victim who had managed to escape and run across the road to a neighboring Mobil garage.



Call of duty: Police from several different agencies responded after MIT police officer Sean Collier was gunned down as he sat in his cruiser

FBI agents recovered footage from the security camera at the entrance to the first garage.

Owner Alan Mendick:'The police came and we went through the CCTV footage.

'Yes, one of them came in here, but I am told before he could buy anything his brother came and hammered on the window and told him they had to go.



Hunt: The events in the early morning hours of April 19 set a massive police search in place that resulted in the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19

'He had some stuff in his hands but he just put it down and left. There are reports that he was shoplifting, but that's not true.'


'His brother called him to come out before he could do anything.

'My cashier who was on duty is scared. He is really shaken up by it all.'

Malah's colleague Brahim Asseban,37, said: 'The manager was called and they told him to close the station down.

'They took the CCTV footage .The picture of the Tsarnaev in the grey hoodie was from the camera at the front door. Everyone who comes in is filmed,it is part of the security you have when open all night.

'Mohammed is a bit shaken up by it all. He said it was very busy that night, and he does not really remember him coming in.

'Lots of people come in late at night but it has shaken him up.'



Terror Attack: The two detonations went off near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 - returning the specter of terrorism to the United States for the first time since 9/11


This image, taken from a surveillance camera shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev climbing out of the boat on Friday evening after the climatic police gun battle



Wounded: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, seen here moments after he was pulled from the boat where he was hiding, suffered a throat wound and a leg wound

'He said one of the brothers, the younger one came in and looked at the Red Bull and candy bars.

The victim told FBI agents he managed to escape while Tamerlan became distracted as his brother was in the store shopping.

Neither brother made any attempt to kill the carjacking victim.

After speeding away along Memorial Drive the stolen car was spotted by police in Watertown having been given its licence plate and description.

They gave chase and in an ensuing gun battle where over 200 shots were fired 26 year old Tamerlan was hit multiple times.He was run over by his brother who fled in the stolen SUV, later abandoning it and taking refuge in a covered up boat, where he later surrendered.

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