Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said to have told FBI investigators of plan to drive to New York and detonate explosives in Times Square
The Boston marathon bombing suspects planned to drive to New York with their remaining arsenal of explosives and launch an attack on Times Square, the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Thursday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old surviving suspect, is said to have told investigators about his plan during interrogations earlier this week in the Boston hospital where he is being treated for gunshot wounds to the neck, hands and legs.
The plan was only thwarted when the brothers were intercepted by police in a Boston suburb. An ensuing gun battle left the older brother dead and prompted a day-long manhunt for the survivor.
Bloomberg's revelation came as pressure increased on US authorities over their handling of the case. Senators emerged from new briefings by the FBI on Capitol Hill with concerns over how a number of US agencies handled warnings from Russia about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who died after a botched escape attempt last Thursday.
Police in Boston were also facing questions over how they handled the manhunt for the brothers as new details emerged that contradicted earlier accounts given by senior officers.
In New York, Bloomberg and the city's police chief Raymond Kelly held a joint news conference at City Hall to announce the latest revelations from the interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. "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 a City Hall news conference.
Bloomberg said that the Tsarnaevs had built additional bombs beyond those set off at the race last week. "He and his older brother intended to drive to New York and detonate those explosives in Times Square," Bloomberg said.
Police commissioner Raymond Kelly said the two suspects had a pressure-cooker bomb and five pipe bombs they wanted to use in the city. Kelly said the brothers' plot to target New York was "spontaneous" and had been hatched in the days following the Boston blasts, which killed three and injured more than 260.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had earlier told the FBI that the pair had intended to drive to New York to "party", Kelly said. But in a second interview, on Sunday night into Monday morning, he revealed that the brothers planned to target Times Square, according to Kelly. Photos obtained by authorities show that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had travelled to New York at least once last year.
Investigators questioned Tsarnaev at Beth Israel Deaconess medical center in Boston over a period of 16 hours without reading him his constitutional rights. According to the Associated Press, he immediately stopped talking after a magistrate judge and a representative from the US attorney's office entered the room and gave him his Miranda warning.
The 19-year-old was charged on Monday with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, a count that carries a possible death penalty. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a confrontation with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Thursday. He was shot by police and was struck by a car driven by his younger brother.
More questions were raised about how US authorities handled the case on Thursday. Senators emerged from new briefings by the FBI on Capitol Hill with concerns over how a number of US agencies handled warnings from Russia about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI and the CIA both investigated the warnings, but concluded the elder Tsarnaev, who visited Dagestan during a six-month trip to Russia in 2012, was not a terrorist threat.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has been vocal in his criticisms of past intelligence failings, was scathing after the FBI briefing. "Boston has become, to me, a case study in system failure," he said.
In Boston meanwhile, more details emerged about the hours before the surviving suspect was captured. According to reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post, officials now concede that Djhokhar Tsarnaev was unarmed when he was detained, after the boat in which he was hiding was showered in a hail of gunfire. It has also emerged that the boat was within the search perimeter laid down by local police, contrary to the earlier assertions of senior officers.
Photo and video footage showed bullet holes in the boat, and the boat's owner described it as looking "like Swiss cheese". After Tsarnaev was detained, Boston police commissioner Ed Davis claimed police had "exchanged gunfire with the suspect who was inside the boat". But it has now emerged that no weapon was recovered from the boat and Tsarnaev was unarmed.
In fact, only one gun connected to the Tsarnaevs has been recovered, from the scene of the shootout where Tamerlan died on Thursday night. Multiple reports said the serial number had been removed.
Speaking after the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Davis said that the boat where the suspect had been hiding was "outside of the perimeter" established by officers. But Davis now says the boat was inside the perimeter. "It was an area that should have been checked," he said. "We are not sure how long he was in the boat. There was a pool of blood near where the car was dumped about four or five blocks away from the boat."
Davis said the circumstances of the capture of Tsarnaev would be reviewed. "We will have to see what prompted the volley of shots before the cease-fire was ordered by a superintendent of the Boston police," he said.
In Russia, the Tsarnaevs' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, said she regretted emigrating to the United States, while continuing to insist that her sons are innocent. "You know, my kids would be with us, and we would be fine [if we hadn't moved]," she told the Associated Press. "So, yes, I would prefer not to live in America now! Why did I even go there? Why? I thought America is going to protect us, our kids, it's going to be safe."