A rebel movement in the Russian republic of Dagestan has denied any links to the deadly bomb attacks in Boston last week.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the suspect killed during a shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts on Friday following a gun battle with authorities, has been linked with the region's bloody rebel group, the Vilyat Dagestan.
But the group, locked in a bloody conflict with Russian security services, has released a statement distancing itself from Tsarnaev and the attack, which killed three and injured more than 180 people.
An Islamist group has distanced itself from Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston bombings who was shot in a gun battle with police officers. His brother Dzhokhar, 19, is seriously injured
Pictures of him and his brother allegedly attending the Boston marathon and planting packages were released by the FBI on Thursday. His brother was injured and remains in hospital.
It said: 'The Vilayat Dagestan command … indicates that mujahideen from the Caucasus are not at war with the United States of America.
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'We are at war with Russia, which is responsible not only for the occupation of the Caucasus, but also of heinous crimes against Muslims.'
The statement also said the group seeks to avoid attacks on civilians, as decreed by leader Doku Umarov, and attempts to link Vilyat Dagestan with the U.S. blasts were 'co-operation with Russian propaganda', according to the Guardian.
It added: 'If U.S. authorities are really interested in establishing the true organisers of the explosions in Boston, and not co-operating with Russian speculation, then they should focus on the Russian special services involvement in the events.'
'Inspiration': One theory is that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was inspired by Doku Umarov, a Chechen terrorist known as Russia's Bin Laden. Vilyat Dagestan has denied there is a link
Combat: Russian soldiers are locked in a conflict with Islamist groups in Dagestan. File picture
A Dagestani police official source revealed to NBC News that the Russian internal security service contacted the FBI in November with some questions about Tsarnaev and handed over a copy of a case file on him.
The 26-year-old Chechen, who was living in the U.S. after being granted refugee status in 2002, first caught the eye of authorities after he was spotted meeting with a person involved in the militant Islamic underground movement in Dagestan. They met at a mosque on six occasions, the source said.
The source told NBC the militant and Tsarnaev disappeared before authorities could speak with them and added that the FBI never responded.
The FBI has confirmed that Russia alerted the agency in 2011 that Tsarnaev had ties to 'radical Islam' groups in his homeland. Homeland Security sources have also revealed the agency received Russian tips in 2012 about his ties to extremists connected to a Boston mosque.
Past: The brothers grew up in Kyrgyzstan, in the town of Tokmok, home to a Chechen community in the Central Asian nation. The family left Kyrgyzstan and moved to the Republic of Dagestan, in the North Caucasus region. From there they traveled to the United States in 2002, when they were granted refugee status
Congress is now promising a full inquiry into what intelligence had been unearthed on the suspected bombers that could have alerted authorities.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called it 'disturbing' that the Chechen immigrant was 'on the FBI radar' in 2011 but was deemed to not be a risk to national security.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show this morning, former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov said: 'The FSB [Russian intelligence agency] has already said that it is prepared to co-operate with the American intelligence services... they are ready to do a joint project.
The brothers were spotted in surveillance footage at the marathon
'There is a sense of frustration that the Western intelligence services have not been fully co-operative with the Russian intelligence services [over Chechnya] - and it started some time ago.'
He added: 'Some of the Russian commentators are saying it must have something to do with the Sochi (Winter) Olympics (next year).'
'There's a feeling that somebody else must have been involved... these two guys don't look like terrorists... there is no professional angle to them.
'These people who are waging the terrorist threat in Chechnya and beyond are dangerous to everyone, and not just to Russia.'
Questions: Rep. Michael McCaul, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called it 'disturbing' that the Chechen immigrant was interviewed by federal officials in 2011 but after a thorough review he was deemed to not be a risk to national security
One theory into the motive for the bombings is that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar may have been ‘inspired’ by Doku Umarov, known as Russia’s Bin Laden.
Umarov, like the Tsarnaev brothers, is an ethnic Chechen from the war-torn Caucasus region that lies between Europe and Central Asia.
He has been accused of masterminding some of the worst terrorist atrocities in Russia, including suicide bombings carried out by two women on Moscow’s Metro system in 2010 which killed at least 40.