Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators from his hospital bed that he and his older, now-dead brother Tamerlan were motivated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when they bombed the Boston Marathon last Monday.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that, according to “U.S. officials familiar with the interviews,” the Tsarnaev brothers “do not appear to have been directed by a foreign terrorist organization.”
Instead, they were most likely “self-radicalized” terrorists, the paper reported, animated by U.S. military action in Muslim countries.
Dzhokhar has a limited ability to speak, reportedly due to a neck wound he may have sustained in a suicide attempt while evading capture last week.
While being advised of his rights by a federal magistrate this week, a doctor asked the suspect if he was “able to answer some questions.” A transcript of the exchange shows he nodded “affirmatively” and said “no” when asked if he could afford a lawyer.
Four people were killed and at least 250 were injured in last week’s marathon bombing and subsequent pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers.