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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev after 2011 tip

In this Feb. 17, 2010, photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, smiles after accepting the trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship in Lowell, Mass. Tsarnaev, 26, who had been known to the FBI as Suspect No. 1 in the Boston Marathon Explosions and was seen in surveillance footage in a black baseball cap, was killed overnight on Friday, April 19, 2013, officials said. (Julia Malakie / The Sun of Lowell)
Pete Yost Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A foreign government told the FBI in early 2011 about information that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, was a follower of radical Islam.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout, and his younger brother was captured alive. They were identified by authorities and relatives as ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the U.S. for about a decade.

According to FBI, the foreign government said that based on its information, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a strong believer and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the U.S. for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.

The FBI says it interviewed Tsarnaev and relatives, and did not find any domestic or foreign terrorism activity.