The two bombers of the Boston Marathon have been identified as brothers from Chechnya and their uncle delivered an emotional and powerful interview to reports, calling his nephews "losers" and urging the one who escaped the police during Thursday night's standoff to turn himself in.
The surviving suspect was identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass. The one who was killed was identified as his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev), 26. The authorities were investigating whether the dead man had a homemade bomb strapped to his body when he was killed, two law enforcement officials said.
The uncle of the men, Ruslan Tsarni, who lives in Montgomery Village, Md., told reporters that he was ashamed of their actions, bitterly calling them "losers" and sternly denouncing the bombings.
"I've been following [the story] from day one but never ever imagined that somehow the children of my brother would be associated with that," Tsarni said. "It is an atrocity. We are devastated. We're shocked. We've not been in touch with that family for a number of years. They never lived here. I never knew, and even if I would have guessed something, I would have submitted them myself."
Asked what he believed provoked the two men accused in the attack, Tsarni said: "Being losers, hatred to those who were able to settle themselves, these are the only reasons I can imagine. Anything else, anything else to do with religion is a fraud. It's a fake. We're Muslims. We're ethnic Chechyans."
Tsarni said he hasn't spoken to his brother since 2009.
"My family has nothing to do with that family," he said. "Of course we're ashamed. Yes, we're ashamed. These are children of my brother, who has little influence over them. Honestly, as much as I know, had little influence of them."
Asked why he hasn't had any contact with the family, Tsarni said: "It's personal. I just wanted my family to be away from them."
Tsarni said one of the suspects was born in Kyrgyzstan and that his brother's family moved to the Boston area in 2003, receiving asylum in the United States. He said the suspects "put a shame" on his family and "the entire ethnicity."
Watch the interview below:
