Bomb Suspects' Uncle: 'Somebody Radicalized Them Here'

An uncle of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, and Tamerlan Tzarnaev, 26, boisterously slammed his nephews as “losers” who must have been “radicalized” in America.

Ruslan Tsarni defend Islam and Chechens while denouncing the crime spree, which included Monday’s deadly dual bombings at the marathon finish line and the shooting death of an MIT police officer this morning. Police said they then carjacked a vehicle before letting the driver go, but police caught up.

The brothers reportedly threw explosives along the route from Cambridge to Watertown and engaged in a gunbattle with police. The older Tzarnaev was killed with too many gunshots for the hospital to count and had trauma from the detonation of an explosive device against his chest. The younger brother escaped, launching an epic manhunt.

Boston locked down for the day, with public transportation brought to a standstill and schools and businesses shut.

Tsarni gave his “condolences to those who’ve been murdered,” noting each of the three death at the marathon.

“They never lived here; the last time I saw them was December 2005,” he said, though he spoke with the father about three months ago.

When asked what would prompt his nephews to commit terrorism, the uncle barked, “Being losers! Hatred to those who were able to settle themselves. Anything else to do with religion, with Islam, is a fraud, is a fake.”

“We’re Muslims,” he added. “We’re Chechens. We’re ethnic Chechens.”

“Somebody radicalized them but it’s not my brother … who spent his life bringing bread to their table,” Tsarni said. The father is reportedly out of the country for medical treatment.

“I respect this country. I love this country, this country which gives chance to everyone else to be treated as a human being,” he gushed.

When asked if they’d gotten outside training, the uncle said, “I don’t know.” He said he didn’t know them to have any ill will against the U.S. Still, he claimed he didn’t want his family near them.

“If I even slightly be aware that they were involved I’d be the first one to bring them to responsibility,” Tsarni said. “Chechens are peaceful people.”

“Dzhokhar, if you’re alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness from the victims, from the injured… He put a shame on our family; he put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity.”