In Boston Marathon Bombing Trial , a Search for Justice and Closure CAMBRIDGE , MASSACHUSETTS — Three short paragraphs - hand - written , in Russian , on lined , notebook paper - sat atop a stack of old newspapers next to the television in the newly vacant third floor apartment at 410 Norfolk Street . Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had done the first of two searches of the East Cambridge apartment , rented for more than a decade by an ethnic Chechen family , the Tsarnaevs . FILE - This April 15 , 2013 , photo shows medical workers aiding injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion . Days earlier , on April 15 , 2013 , two pressure cookers , packed with nails and ball bearings , exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line , killing three , maiming scores and shattering the celebration of the world ’ s oldest annual marathon . The Tsarnaevs ’ two sons had been implicated : Tamerlan , 26 , had been killed during a police shoot - out . Dzhokhar , 19 , was in police custody . A friend , who had known the Tsarnaev family for years and was very close to all of them , discovered the paper in the apartment and recognized the handwriting as Tamerlan ’ s : " They said : how many small armies had defeated larger armies by the will of Allah . The Prophet called to Allah with the words : give me the perseverance in all my undertakings and the resoluteness to follow the correct path . If Allah will give you support , then no one will defeat you . If he removes this support , then who will help you in place of nothing ? Let the devout rely on Allah . " A scrap of paper , featuring Quranic musings , written in Russian and shared with VOA , was found in the Cambridge apartment by a close family friend and identified by the friend as Tamerlan ' s handwriting . The writing , shared exclusively with VOA , is a glimpse into the mind of the man considered to be the mastermind of the Boston terrorist attack . Nearly 21 months later , the scars of the bombing - psychological and physical - are deep and raw in the Boston area as survivors , witnesses , Americans and Chechens , from Boston and Grozny , have groped to understand the motivations of the Tsarnaev brothers . VOA has retraced some of the key steps leading up to the bombing , interviewing members of the Chechen émigré community and others who had close dealings with the Tsarnaev family . The story that emerges is one of a troubled family buffeted by the challenges of adapting to American culture and by the undercurrents of war and radicalism wracking their ethnic homeland . Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seen in this law enforcement bulletin , distributed in the days after the April 15 , 2013 , bombing . The best hope , however , for understanding what led to April 15 , 2013 , lies with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , whose trial on 30 terrorism and related charges opens Monday in Boston ’ s federal court just a few miles from the marathon ’ s finish line . “ They took the innocence from us , that they did take , ” said Jason Rosenberg , a Boston - area lawyer who represents a man once cared for by the Tsarnaev family . “ You think you ’ re immune from [ terrorism ] , it only happens elsewhere . ” “ We think : ‘ they can ’ t be these beasts , but we all know that a human being … can be caring and loving to someone else and then be a horrendous person , ” he said . “ You can be , and are , one and the same , the same person . ” ‘ Why did you do it , Tamerlan , why ? ’ A caring and loving person is what Tamerlan seemed like less than four weeks before the bombs sent panic through runners and spectators lining the few hundred yards along Boston ’ s Boylston Street leading up to the finish line . Around March 20 , Tamerlan , along with his American wife , Katherine , traveled to the outskirts of Manchester , New Hampshire , to visit another Chechen family who had fled the region in the early 2000s : Musa Khadzhimuradov , his wife Madina , and their two children . Among the two dozen or so Chechen families living in Boston and southern New Hampshire , it was common to mark holidays together , to attend one another ’ s barbecues , to carry on traditions from back in Chechnya . Tamerlan had come , Khadzhimuradov said , to say goodbye to Khadzhimuradov ’ s mother - in - law , who was returning to Chechnya . Khadzhimuradov , who formerly worked as a bodyguard to Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev , said he had been in touch with Tamerlan since 2006 , when they met at a Chechen holiday celebration in Boston . At 755 Boylston St . , just a few steps from the finish line of the Boston Marathon , there is little indication of the carnage of the 2013 bombing , except for a small makeshift memorial tied to a narrow tree . During the March visit , both Khadzhimuradov and his wife Madina recalled , Tamerlan played happily with his young daughter Zahara , and chatted with the Khadzhimuradovs ’ own daughter . “ We didn ’ t talk about war or religion , nothing , ” Musa Khadzhimuradov told VOA . “ He was happy . Maybe he had a double life or something , but he was playing with his child . ” “ The way [ Katherine ] looked at him , she couldn ' t take her eyes of him , ” Madina said . “ Tamerlan was chatting , playing with his daughter . ” “ I see him almost every night in my dreams , ” she said . “ He looks just as always : very handsome and calm . I cry and I ask him : ‘ Why did you do it , Tamerlan , why ? ’ And he answers : ‘ I didn ' t want to do it here . ’” But according to FBI affidavits , the grand jury indictment and other details made public in media reports , Tamerlan was plotting something destructive . On at least two occasions in the months prior to April 15 , Tamerlan had visited a Manchester firing range just a few miles from the Khadzhimuradov apartment to practice shooting . On March 20 , Dzhokhar , who was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth , joined Tamerlan at the range . Carey McLoud , an owner and manager of the Manchester Firing Range Line , refused to answer VOA ’ s questions about the Tsarnaev brothers . Tamerlan had also traveled to the New Hampshire coastal town of Seabrook to buy fireworks , and gather gunpowder to fuel the pressure cooker bombs . On February 6 , at around 7 : 40 p . m . , Tamerlan stopped at Phantom Fireworks and paid $ 199 cash for a package called “ Lock and Load , ” and took advantage of a “ buy - one - get - one - free deal . ” He left with 48 mortars and the equivalent of eight pounds of low explosive powder , according to prosecutors . On Feb . 6 , 2013 , Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to New Hampshire , to buy fireworks , as part of preparations to build pressure cooker bombs . “ He asked ‘ what was the loudest , most powerful firework we had ? ” store manager April Walton told VOA . “ It ’ s what 80 percent of our customers ask for . ” Sometime around April 5 , just 10 days before the bombings , Tamerlan went online and ordered electronic components that could be used in making bombs , according to the grand jury indictment . Those components were delivered by mail to the Norfolk Street apartment . In recent years , some members of the Tsarnaev family , including the boys ’ mother Zubeidat , had begun openly expressing their Muslim faith . They dressed in traditional conservative clothing and attended prayer services , mainly at the Islamic Society of Boston ’ s Cambridge mosque four blocks from 410 Norfolk Street . Once a fashionable and flashy dresser , Zubeidat had taken to wearing headscarves , long skirts and long - sleeved dresses and shirts . She reportedly started wearing gloves constantly so as to avoid touching the hands of unrelated males , such as shop clerks or tollbooth workers . The Tsarnaev boys ’ sisters , Bella and Ailina , also began wearing headscarves . Outburst at the mosque Prior to November 2012 , the Tsarnaevs didn ’ t stand out among the hundreds who attended prayers regularly , said the Cambridge mosque ’ s acting imam , Ismail Fenni . That month , a guest speaker gave a sermon about the importance of Muslims accepting public holidays like Thanksgiving . Tamerlan stood up and angrily interrupted the speaker , calling him wrong . Fenni said he and other elders spoke to Tamerlan and reminded him of the mosque rules of behavior and decorum . Tamerlan nodded and said he understood , Fenni recalled . Elders at the Cambridge mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston said the November 2012 outburst by Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the first time anyone really took note of him . Then in January 2013 , at the prayer service before the Martin Luther King Jr . holiday , Tamerlan again stood up and interrupted the sermon , as the guest speaker discussed how Muslims should accept the civil rights leader . “ There was nothing really for us to be worried about with him before his explosive outbursts , ” Fenni said . “ Before then , he was just a face in the crowd . ” That first outburst had occurred four months after Tamerlan returned from a trip to Russia ’ s North Caucasus , where Chechnya is located . Between January and July 2012 , Tamerlan spent some of his time in Makhachkala , the capital of the Dagestan region , working with his father Anzor , who had arrived in the region in April . Anzor was newly divorced from Zubeidat , according to the family friend , who asked not to be identified publicly while discussing the Tsarnaev ’ s family dynamics . Like much of Russia ' s North Caucasus , Dagestan , shown here in red , has struggled with violence spilling over from neighboring Chechnya . The stated reason for Tamerlan ’ s trip in January 2012 , according to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta , was obtain a Russian passport : Tamerlan held a Kyrgyz passport , the result of his early childhood in Kyrgyzstan , where many Chechens lived after being expelled from their homeland by Stalin in the 1940s . But last year , Irina Gordienko , an investigative reporter for Novaya Gazeta , reported that Tamerlan didn ’ t actually apply for a passport until the end of June , more than six months after arriving . Gordienko also reported Tamerlan had been in contact with two militants wanted by Russian security agencies . One , a Russian - Canadian named William Plotnikov , was killed by police on July 14 , 2012 . Within two days , Tamerlan left the region to fly back to the United States . “ People in Dagestan told me he dressed strangely , his behavior was unusual , ” Gordienko said . “ He wasn ’ t very knowledgeable about Islam . ” Where Tamerlan ( L ) saw some success as a boxer , Dzhokhar ( R ) captained his high school wrestling team . In the United States , Tamerlan had been a show - off from a young age , always seeking attention , the family friend told VOA . He loved to sing , to play violin and to dance . He was smart academically , but he never seemed focused , the friend said : he talked about being an accountant , but he took only a handful of classes at Bunker Hill Community College . Tamerlan was athletic , as well : he trained at a boxing club in Somerville , next door to Cambridge . His boxing career , nurtured by his father Anzor , hit a high point in February 2010 with a regional trophy . Then it petered out . “ He didn ’ t seem to know where he was going , ” the friend said . Over the years , Tamerlan pulled income from short - term jobs . In 2009 , he worked as a driver for a Watertown - based elder care facility that catered to Russian immigrants . He also helped his mother with her work as a home health aide in the Newton home of Donald and Rosemary Larking . Donald Larking was an older man who became so close to Tamerlan that he attended prayer services at the Cambridge mosque , according to Rosenberg , Larking ’ s lawyer . Larking also had constant discussions with Tamerlan about politics and espoused dark conspiracy theories about the attacks of September 11 , 2001 . Through Rosenberg , Donald Larking refused to be interviewed for this article . Pictured is Tamerlan ( C ) Tsarnaev , accompanied by his father Anzor ( L ) , mother Zubeidat and uncle Muhamad Suleimanov ( R ) , in this photo courtesy of the Suleimanova family . Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI in 2011 , at the request of the lead Russian security agency , the FSB , which had been monitoring Tamerlan ’ s alleged interactions with radical groups . Chechnya had by then suffered through the second of two wars since 1994 , and the turmoil had spawned a terrorist insurgency , influenced by Islamic extremists , that had affected the entire North Caucasus . According to an FBI statement , the Russians reported that Tamerlan “ was a follower of radical Islam ” and “ had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country ’ s region to join unspecified underground groups . ” The youngest Tsarnaev Dzhokhar , by contrast , was considered smart but quiet , always in his older siblings ’ shadow , according to friends and acquaintances . When the family moved to the Boston area , Dzhokhar , then 8 , spent second grade at an elementary school in Needham , a Boston suburb . He lived with the family of a prominent Chechen doctor , Khassan Baiev . Baiev ’ s daughter Maryam remembers Dzhokhar , who later called himself Jahar , as a happy boy who was good at math , who liked to rollerblade and bicycle around the neighborhood playground . As they grew older , however , she said she had few interactions with him , only occasionally by Facebook . “ I remember when I saw him on TV … I ran straight to my brother , and said , “ Did you see who was on TV ? ’ He said “ Yeah , I saw it , ’” Baieva , 21 , said . “ I was more upset . I felt bad for [ Dzhokhar ] and I felt bad for his parents , everything he put them through . Friends say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was smart and quiet , always in the shadow of his older siblings . “ I felt heartbroken , betrayed at the time . It was scary , because I didn ’ t know how people were going to look at me after , what people were going to think of me afterward , ” she said . Unlike with Tamerlan - the trip to Russia , the mosque outburst , the initial FBI investigation - Dzhokhar ’ s involvement in the attack was even more baffling . According to friends and acquaintances , he never elicited attention or worry prior to April 15 , 2013 : not from neighbors or friends , not from school , not from law enforcement . At Cambridge ’ s Rindge and Latin high school , Dzhokhar was known as low - key , laid - back and friendly . He was captain of the public school ’ s wrestling team , an honor student and the recipient of a small scholarship from the city of Cambridge . At the Dartmouth campus of the University of Massachusetts , Dzhokhar was known as a middling student and , according to The Boston Globe , an active dealer of marijuana . “ Dzhokhar kept to himself , he was smart . He made his own choices , ” the family friend said . “ He wasn ’ t the center of attention ; he was always off to the side . ” “ I never worried about Dzhokhar , ” the friend said . In the months immediately before the bombing , the Norfolk Street apartment was occupied only by Tamerlan , his wife and their daughter . Katherine worked as a home health aide . His parents were both living in Russia . His sisters had moved out . On the Dartmouth campus , according to prosecutors , there were indications that Dzhokhar was exploring violent acts . Sometime in the spring of 2013 , Dzhokhar downloaded to his computer several books and pamphlets espousing radical Islamist ideas . One was a book that contained a passage by a well - known al - Qaida propagandist , Anwar al - Awlaki . Another was a copy of the summer 2010 issue of Inspire magazine , an English - language publication by al - Qaida ’ s affiliate on the Arabian Peninsula . The issue contained detailed instructions about making a pressure cooker bomb using common materials in an article titled : “ How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom . ” Fireworks found inside a backpack belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are seen in a handout photo released by the FBI , May 2 , 2013 . After his arrest , investigators later found Dzhokhar ’ s college dormitory room , his computer and a backpack containing fireworks that had been emptied of gunpowder . The night of April 15 , Dzhokhar sent a friend — the son of a prominent Boston - area Chechen émigré — a text message asking him if he was at the marathon and was OK . On April 18 , as police widened their search for the alleged bombers , the brothers shot and killed a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge , according to the grand jury indictment . Hours later , as the manhunt began closing in , Dzhokhar sent another text message to a college classmate saying : “ If you want u can go to my room and take what you want . ” In the early hours of April 19 , with Tamerlan dead and the suburban town of Watertown resembling a war zone , Dzhokhar , bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds , huddled in a boat parked in a backyard driveway . Inside the hull and on an overhead beam , he scrawled several messages that give some insight into his motivations , according to the indictment : “ The U . S . Government is killing our innocent civilians ; I can ' t stand to see such evil go unpunished ; We Muslims are one body , you hurt one you hurt us all ; Now I don ' t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam . . . . stop killing our innocent people and we will stop . ” Trial as closure For victims , for friends of the Tsarnaev family , for Chechen immigrants , for marathon runners , for arguably just about everyone in Massachusetts , the trial scheduled for Monday is likely to be a riveting spectacle . FILE - Demonstrators asserting that evidence in the Boston Marathon bombing was fabricated stand outside the federal courthouse ahead of a pre - trial conference for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston , Dec . 18 , 2014 . For some , it will be a chance at vengeance and punishment for a young man whose seeming potential crashed to a halt on April 15 , 2013 . For others , it will be a chance at learning something more about why a laid - back , average , 19 - year - old college student decided to participate in a horrific attack on bystanders celebrating a beloved sporting event . “ I want to know why he did it . I want to know why he would go out of his way , what did he need when he already has everything , ” said Baieva , the childhood friend . On December 18 , Dzhokhar appeared at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse , on Boston ’ s waterfront , his last appearance before the formal beginning of his trial . It was his first public appearance since July 2013 , when , still visibly wounded from the manhunt , he told the court he entered a plea of not guilty . A courtroom sketch depicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in federal court in Boston , Massachusetts , December 18 , 2014 . During the 30 - minute appearance on December 18 , Dzhokhar – sporting a shock of bushy hair and a thin beard – played nervously with his hands and smiled occasionally when talking with his lawyers . He stood when the judge addressed him directly , and he responded respectfully , saying “ yes , sir , ” and “ no , sir . ” Federal prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty if Dzhokhar is convicted . His defense lawyers are expected to seek leniency from the jury , arguing that Dzhokhar was an accomplice , but decidedly under the sway of his older brother . Defense lawyers have also made a flurry of last - minute court filings , seeking to either delay the trial or move it out of state . A filing last Monday by Tsarnaev ’ s lead lawyer , Judy Clarke , suggested that the defense was trying reach a deal with the prosecution : possibly a guilty plea in exchange for a life prison sentence . “ If the government remains unwilling to relent in seeking death , and the case therefore must be tried , the defense is asking for nothing more than a trial that is fair , ” she wrote . A couple embraces at a memorial on Boylston Street to the bombing victims , April 21 , 2013 . The trial portends renewed grief not only for the victims of the bombing . For the refugees of the Chechen wars and oppression , who came to the New England over the past two decades , settling in the United States was a chance for them to rebuild a semblance of peace and prosperity . The Boston Marathon bombings shattered that dream . Upon reaching the United States , “ for the first time in my life I felt that I , my kids , my family – that we are safe and happy here . I prayed for America every evening , ” said Madina Khadzhimuradova , the Tsarnaev family friend . “ Now it is all gone . I am living in fear again , just like in the old times in Chechnya . We spoke about moving somewhere else , but where can we go ? There is no place for Chechens on this Earth . ”

In Boston Marathon Bombing Trial, a Search for Justice and Closure CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Three short paragraphs - hand-written, in Russian, on lined, notebook paper - sat atop a stack of old newspapers next to the television in the newly vacant third floor apartment at 410 Norfolk Street.Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had done the first of two searches of the East Cambridge apartment, rented for more than a decade by an ethnic Chechen family, the Tsarnaevs.FILE - This April 15, 2013, photo shows medical workers aiding injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion.Days earlier, on April 15, 2013, two pressure cookers, packed with nails and ball bearings, exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three, maiming scores and shattering the celebration of the world’s oldest annual marathon.The Tsarnaevs’ two sons had been implicated: Tamerlan, 26, had been killed during a police shoot-out. Dzhokhar, 19, was in police custody.A friend, who had known the Tsarnaev family for years and was very close to all of them, discovered the paper in the apartment and recognized the handwriting as Tamerlan’s:"They said: how many small armies had defeated larger armies by the will of Allah. The Prophet called to Allah with the words: give me the perseverance in all my undertakings and the resoluteness to follow the correct path. If Allah will give you support, then no one will defeat you. If he removes this support, then who will help you in place of nothing? Let the devout rely on Allah."A scrap of paper, featuring Quranic musings, written in Russian and shared with VOA, was found in the Cambridge apartment by a close family friend and identified by the friend as Tamerlan's handwriting.The writing, shared exclusively with VOA, is a glimpse into the mind of the man considered to be the mastermind of the Boston terrorist attack.Nearly 21 months later, the scars of the bombing - psychological and physical - are deep and raw in the Boston area as survivors, witnesses, Americans and Chechens, from Boston and Grozny, have groped to understand the motivations of the Tsarnaev brothers.VOA has retraced some of the key steps leading up to the bombing, interviewing members of the Chechen émigré community and others who had close dealings with the Tsarnaev family.The story that emerges is one of a troubled family buffeted by the challenges of adapting to American culture and by the undercurrents of war and radicalism wracking their ethnic homeland.Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seen in this law enforcement bulletin, distributed in the days after the April 15, 2013, bombing.The best hope, however, for understanding what led to April 15, 2013, lies with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose trial on 30 terrorism and related charges opens Monday in Boston’s federal court just a few miles from the marathon’s finish line.“They took the innocence from us, that they did take,” said Jason Rosenberg, a Boston-area lawyer who represents a man once cared for by the Tsarnaev family. “You think you’re immune from [terrorism], it only happens elsewhere.”“We think: ‘they can’t be these beasts, but we all know that a human being … can be caring and loving to someone else and then be a horrendous person,” he said. “You can be, and are, one and the same, the same person.”‘Why did you do it, Tamerlan, why?’A caring and loving person is what Tamerlan seemed like less than four weeks before the bombs sent panic through runners and spectators lining the few hundred yards along Boston’s Boylston Street leading up to the finish line.Around March 20, Tamerlan, along with his American wife, Katherine, traveled to the outskirts of Manchester, New Hampshire, to visit another Chechen family who had fled the region in the early 2000s: Musa Khadzhimuradov, his wife Madina, and their two children.Among the two dozen or so Chechen families living in Boston and southern New Hampshire, it was common to mark holidays together, to attend one another’s barbecues, to carry on traditions from back in Chechnya. Tamerlan had come, Khadzhimuradov said, to say goodbye to Khadzhimuradov’s mother-in-law, who was returning to Chechnya.Khadzhimuradov, who formerly worked as a bodyguard to Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev, said he had been in touch with Tamerlan since 2006, when they met at a Chechen holiday celebration in Boston. At 755 Boylston St., just a few steps from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, there is little indication of the carnage of the 2013 bombing, except for a small makeshift memorial tied to a narrow tree.During the March visit, both Khadzhimuradov and his wife Madina recalled, Tamerlan played happily with his young daughter Zahara, and chatted with the Khadzhimuradovs’ own daughter.“We didn’t talk about war or religion, nothing,” Musa Khadzhimuradov told VOA. “He was happy. Maybe he had a double life or something, but he was playing with his child.”“The way [Katherine] looked at him, she couldn't take her eyes of him,” Madina said. “Tamerlan was chatting, playing with his daughter.” “I see him almost every night in my dreams,” she said. “He looks just as always: very handsome and calm. I cry and I ask him: ‘Why did you do it, Tamerlan, why?’ And he answers: ‘I didn't want to do it here.’”But according to FBI affidavits, the grand jury indictment and other details made public in media reports, Tamerlan was plotting something destructive.On at least two occasions in the months prior to April 15, Tamerlan had visited a Manchester firing range just a few miles from the Khadzhimuradov apartment to practice shooting. On March 20, Dzhokhar, who was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, joined Tamerlan at the range.Carey McLoud, an owner and manager of the Manchester Firing Range Line, refused to answer VOA’s questions about the Tsarnaev brothers.Tamerlan had also traveled to the New Hampshire coastal town of Seabrook to buy fireworks, and gather gunpowder to fuel the pressure cooker bombs. On February 6, at around 7:40 p.m., Tamerlan stopped at Phantom Fireworks and paid $199 cash for a package called “Lock and Load,” and took advantage of a “buy-one-get-one-free deal.” He left with 48 mortars and the equivalent of eight pounds of low explosive powder, according to prosecutors.On Feb. 6, 2013, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to New Hampshire, to buy fireworks, as part of preparations to build pressure cooker bombs.“He asked ‘what was the loudest, most powerful firework we had?” store manager April Walton told VOA. “It’s what 80 percent of our customers ask for.”Sometime around April 5, just 10 days before the bombings, Tamerlan went online and ordered electronic components that could be used in making bombs, according to the grand jury indictment. Those components were delivered by mail to the Norfolk Street apartment.In recent years, some members of the Tsarnaev family, including the boys’ mother Zubeidat, had begun openly expressing their Muslim faith. They dressed in traditional conservative clothing and attended prayer services, mainly at the Islamic Society of Boston’s Cambridge mosque four blocks from 410 Norfolk Street. Once a fashionable and flashy dresser, Zubeidat had taken to wearing headscarves, long skirts and long-sleeved dresses and shirts. She reportedly started wearing gloves constantly so as to avoid touching the hands of unrelated males, such as shop clerks or tollbooth workers. The Tsarnaev boys’ sisters, Bella and Ailina, also began wearing headscarves.Outburst at the mosquePrior to November 2012, the Tsarnaevs didn’t stand out among the hundreds who attended prayers regularly, said the Cambridge mosque’s acting imam, Ismail Fenni.That month, a guest speaker gave a sermon about the importance of Muslims accepting public holidays like Thanksgiving. Tamerlan stood up and angrily interrupted the speaker, calling him wrong.Fenni said he and other elders spoke to Tamerlan and reminded him of the mosque rules of behavior and decorum. Tamerlan nodded and said he understood, Fenni recalled.Elders at the Cambridge mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston said the November 2012 outburst by Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the first time anyone really took note of him.Then in January 2013, at the prayer service before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Tamerlan again stood up and interrupted the sermon, as the guest speaker discussed how Muslims should accept the civil rights leader.“There was nothing really for us to be worried about with him before his explosive outbursts,” Fenni said. “Before then, he was just a face in the crowd.”That first outburst had occurred four months after Tamerlan returned from a trip to Russia’s North Caucasus, where Chechnya is located.Between January and July 2012, Tamerlan spent some of his time in Makhachkala, the capital of the Dagestan region, working with his father Anzor, who had arrived in the region in April. Anzor was newly divorced from Zubeidat, according to the family friend, who asked not to be identified publicly while discussing the Tsarnaev’s family dynamics.Like much of Russia's North Caucasus, Dagestan, shown here in red, has struggled with violence spilling over from neighboring Chechnya.The stated reason for Tamerlan’s trip in January 2012, according to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was obtain a Russian passport: Tamerlan held a Kyrgyz passport, the result of his early childhood in Kyrgyzstan, where many Chechens lived after being expelled from their homeland by Stalin in the 1940s.But last year, Irina Gordienko, an investigative reporter for Novaya Gazeta, reported that Tamerlan didn’t actually apply for a passport until the end of June, more than six months after arriving.Gordienko also reported Tamerlan had been in contact with two militants wanted by Russian security agencies. One, a Russian-Canadian named William Plotnikov, was killed by police on July 14, 2012. Within two days, Tamerlan left the region to fly back to the United States.“People in Dagestan told me he dressed strangely, his behavior was unusual,” Gordienko said. “He wasn’t very knowledgeable about Islam.”Where Tamerlan (L) saw some success as a boxer, Dzhokhar (R) captained his high school wrestling team.In the United States, Tamerlan had been a show-off from a young age, always seeking attention, the family friend told VOA. He loved to sing, to play violin and to dance. He was smart academically, but he never seemed focused, the friend said: he talked about being an accountant, but he took only a handful of classes at Bunker Hill Community College.Tamerlan was athletic, as well: he trained at a boxing club in Somerville, next door to Cambridge. His boxing career, nurtured by his father Anzor, hit a high point in February 2010 with a regional trophy. Then it petered out.“He didn’t seem to know where he was going,” the friend said.Over the years, Tamerlan pulled income from short-term jobs.In 2009, he worked as a driver for a Watertown-based elder care facility that catered to Russian immigrants. He also helped his mother with her work as a home health aide in the Newton home of Donald and Rosemary Larking.Donald Larking was an older man who became so close to Tamerlan that he attended prayer services at the Cambridge mosque, according to Rosenberg, Larking’s lawyer. Larking also had constant discussions with Tamerlan about politics and espoused dark conspiracy theories about the attacks of September 11, 2001.Through Rosenberg, Donald Larking refused to be interviewed for this article.Pictured is Tamerlan (C) Tsarnaev, accompanied by his father Anzor (L), mother Zubeidat and uncle Muhamad Suleimanov (R), in this photo courtesy of the Suleimanova family.Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI in 2011, at the request of the lead Russian security agency, the FSB, which had been monitoring Tamerlan’s alleged interactions with radical groups. Chechnya had by then suffered through the second of two wars since 1994, and the turmoil had spawned a terrorist insurgency, influenced by Islamic extremists, that had affected the entire North Caucasus.According to an FBI statement, the Russians reported that Tamerlan “was a follower of radical Islam” and “had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.”The youngest TsarnaevDzhokhar, by contrast, was considered smart but quiet, always in his older siblings’ shadow, according to friends and acquaintances.When the family moved to the Boston area, Dzhokhar, then 8, spent second grade at an elementary school in Needham, a Boston suburb. He lived with the family of a prominent Chechen doctor, Khassan Baiev.Baiev’s daughter Maryam remembers Dzhokhar, who later called himself Jahar, as a happy boy who was good at math, who liked to rollerblade and bicycle around the neighborhood playground.As they grew older, however, she said she had few interactions with him, only occasionally by Facebook.“I remember when I saw him on TV… I ran straight to my brother, and said, “Did you see who was on TV?’ He said “Yeah, I saw it,’” Baieva, 21, said. “I was more upset. I felt bad for [Dzhokhar] and I felt bad for his parents, everything he put them through.Friends say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was smart and quiet, always in the shadow of his older siblings.“I felt heartbroken, betrayed at the time. It was scary, because I didn’t know how people were going to look at me after, what people were going to think of me afterward,” she said.Unlike with Tamerlan - the trip to Russia, the mosque outburst, the initial FBI investigation - Dzhokhar’s involvement in the attack was even more baffling. According to friends and acquaintances, he never elicited attention or worry prior to April 15, 2013: not from neighbors or friends, not from school, not from law enforcement.At Cambridge’s Rindge and Latin high school, Dzhokhar was known as low-key, laid-back and friendly. He was captain of the public school’s wrestling team, an honor student and the recipient of a small scholarship from the city of Cambridge.At the Dartmouth campus of the University of Massachusetts, Dzhokhar was known as a middling student and, according to The Boston Globe, an active dealer of marijuana.“Dzhokhar kept to himself, he was smart. He made his own choices,” the family friend said. “He wasn’t the center of attention; he was always off to the side.”“I never worried about Dzhokhar,” the friend said.In the months immediately before the bombing, the Norfolk Street apartment was occupied only by Tamerlan, his wife and their daughter. Katherine worked as a home health aide. His parents were both living in Russia. His sisters had moved out.On the Dartmouth campus, according to prosecutors, there were indications that Dzhokhar was exploring violent acts. Sometime in the spring of 2013, Dzhokhar downloaded to his computer several books and pamphlets espousing radical Islamist ideas.One was a book that contained a passage by a well-known al-Qaida propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki. Another was a copy of the summer 2010 issue of Inspire magazine, an English-language publication by al-Qaida’s affiliate on the Arabian Peninsula.The issue contained detailed instructions about making a pressure cooker bomb using common materials in an article titled: “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”Fireworks found inside a backpack belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are seen in a handout photo released by the FBI, May 2, 2013.After his arrest, investigators later found Dzhokhar’s college dormitory room, his computer and a backpack containing fireworks that had been emptied of gunpowder.The night of April 15, Dzhokhar sent a friend— the son of a prominent Boston-area Chechen émigré— a text message asking him if he was at the marathon and was OK.On April 18, as police widened their search for the alleged bombers, the brothers shot and killed a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, according to the grand jury indictment. Hours later, as the manhunt began closing in, Dzhokhar sent another text message to a college classmate saying: “If you want u can go to my room and take what you want.”In the early hours of April 19, with Tamerlan dead and the suburban town of Watertown resembling a war zone, Dzhokhar, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, huddled in a boat parked in a backyard driveway.Inside the hull and on an overhead beam, he scrawled several messages that give some insight into his motivations, according to the indictment:“The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians; I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished; We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all; Now I don't like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam.... stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.”Trial as closureFor victims, for friends of the Tsarnaev family, for Chechen immigrants, for marathon runners, for arguably just about everyone in Massachusetts, the trial scheduled for Monday is likely to be a riveting spectacle.FILE - Demonstrators asserting that evidence in the Boston Marathon bombing was fabricated stand outside the federal courthouse ahead of a pre-trial conference for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston, Dec. 18, 2014.For some, it will be a chance at vengeance and punishment for a young man whose seeming potential crashed to a halt on April 15, 2013.For others, it will be a chance at learning something more about why a laid-back, average, 19-year-old college student decided to participate in a horrific attack on bystanders celebrating a beloved sporting event.“I want to know why he did it. I want to know why he would go out of his way, what did he need when he already has everything,” said Baieva, the childhood friend.On December 18, Dzhokhar appeared at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, on Boston’s waterfront, his last appearance before the formal beginning of his trial. It was his first public appearance since July 2013, when, still visibly wounded from the manhunt, he told the court he entered a plea of not guilty.A courtroom sketch depicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, December 18, 2014.During the 30-minute appearance on December 18, Dzhokhar – sporting a shock of bushy hair and a thin beard – played nervously with his hands and smiled occasionally when talking with his lawyers.He stood when the judge addressed him directly, and he responded respectfully, saying “yes, sir,” and “no, sir.”Federal prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty if Dzhokhar is convicted. His defense lawyers are expected to seek leniency from the jury, arguing that Dzhokhar was an accomplice, but decidedly under the sway of his older brother.Defense lawyers have also made a flurry of last-minute court filings, seeking to either delay the trial or move it out of state. A filing last Monday by Tsarnaev’s lead lawyer, Judy Clarke, suggested that the defense was trying reach a deal with the prosecution: possibly a guilty plea in exchange for a life prison sentence.“If the government remains unwilling to relent in seeking death, and the case therefore must be tried, the defense is asking for nothing more than a trial that is fair,” she wrote.A couple embraces at a memorial on Boylston Street to the bombing victims, April 21, 2013.The trial portends renewed grief not only for the victims of the bombing. For the refugees of the Chechen wars and oppression, who came to the New England over the past two decades, settling in the United States was a chance for them to rebuild a semblance of peace and prosperity. The Boston Marathon bombings shattered that dream.Upon reaching the United States, “for the first time in my life I felt that I, my kids, my family – that we are safe and happy here. I prayed for America every evening,” said Madina Khadzhimuradova, the Tsarnaev family friend.“Now it is all gone. I am living in fear again, just like in the old times in Chechnya. We spoke about moving somewhere else, but where can we go? There is no place for Chechens on this Earth.”

In Boston Marathon Bombing Trial, a Search for Justice and Closure

FILE - This April 15, 2013, photo shows medical workers aiding injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion.

The Tsarnaevs’ two sons had been implicated: Tamerlan, 26, had been killed during a police shoot-out. Dzhokhar, 19, was in police custody.

The writing, shared exclusively with VOA, is a glimpse into the mind of the man considered to be the mastermind of the Boston terrorist attack.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seen in this law enforcement bulletin, distributed in the days after the April 15, 2013, bombing.

“The way [Katherine] looked at him, she couldn't take her eyes of him,” Madina said. “Tamerlan was chatting, playing with his daughter.”

But according to FBI affidavits, the grand jury indictment and other details made public in media reports, Tamerlan was plotting something destructive.

Carey McLoud, an owner and manager of the Manchester Firing Range Line, refused to answer VOA’s questions about the Tsarnaev brothers.

On Feb. 6, 2013, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to New Hampshire, to buy fireworks, as part of preparations to build pressure cooker bombs.

“He asked ‘what was the loudest, most powerful firework we had?” store manager April Walton told VOA. “It’s what 80 percent of our customers ask for.”

Prior to November 2012, the Tsarnaevs didn’t stand out among the hundreds who attended prayers regularly, said the Cambridge mosque’s acting imam, Ismail Fenni.

Fenni said he and other elders spoke to Tamerlan and reminded him of the mosque rules of behavior and decorum. Tamerlan nodded and said he understood, Fenni recalled.

Elders at the Cambridge mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston said the November 2012 outburst by Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the first time anyone really took note of him.

“There was nothing really for us to be worried about with him before his explosive outbursts,” Fenni said. “Before then, he was just a face in the crowd.”

That first outburst had occurred four months after Tamerlan returned from a trip to Russia’s North Caucasus, where Chechnya is located.

Like much of Russia's North Caucasus, Dagestan, shown here in red, has struggled with violence spilling over from neighboring Chechnya.

“People in Dagestan told me he dressed strangely, his behavior was unusual,” Gordienko said. “He wasn’t very knowledgeable about Islam.”

Where Tamerlan (L) saw some success as a boxer, Dzhokhar (R) captained his high school wrestling team.

“He didn’t seem to know where he was going,” the friend said.

Over the years, Tamerlan pulled income from short-term jobs.

Through Rosenberg, Donald Larking refused to be interviewed for this article.

Dzhokhar, by contrast, was considered smart but quiet, always in his older siblings’ shadow, according to friends and acquaintances.

As they grew older, however, she said she had few interactions with him, only occasionally by Facebook.

Friends say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was smart and quiet, always in the shadow of his older siblings.

At the Dartmouth campus of the University of Massachusetts, Dzhokhar was known as a middling student and, according to The Boston Globe, an active dealer of marijuana.

“Dzhokhar kept to himself, he was smart. He made his own choices,” the family friend said. “He wasn’t the center of attention; he was always off to the side.”

“I never worried about Dzhokhar,” the friend said.

Fireworks found inside a backpack belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are seen in a handout photo released by the FBI, May 2, 2013.

After his arrest, investigators later found Dzhokhar’s college dormitory room, his computer and a backpack containing fireworks that had been emptied of gunpowder.

The night of April 15, Dzhokhar sent a friend— the son of a prominent Boston-area Chechen émigré— a text message asking him if he was at the marathon and was OK.

Inside the hull and on an overhead beam, he scrawled several messages that give some insight into his motivations, according to the indictment:

For some, it will be a chance at vengeance and punishment for a young man whose seeming potential crashed to a halt on April 15, 2013.

“I want to know why he did it. I want to know why he would go out of his way, what did he need when he already has everything,” said Baieva, the childhood friend.

A courtroom sketch depicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, December 18, 2014.

A couple embraces at a memorial on Boylston Street to the bombing victims, April 21, 2013.

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Prosecutors on Tuesday charged Ahmad Khan Rahami , 28 , in federal court in New York in connection with bombings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and in New Jersey on Saturday . The federal charges came one day after the police arrested and charged him with several counts , including attempted murder of an officer , after a gunfight in Linden , N . J . , 15 miles from New York City . Here ’ s what else we know : Who is Ahmad Khan Rahami ? Image Images of Mr . Rahami released by the police . Credit . . . New Jersey State Police Mr . Rahami , who previously served time in jail , was born in Afghanistan but is a United States citizen . He lived above the fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth , N . J . , started by his father , Mohammad , and also worked there . Some of his friends called him Mad — apparently a reference to his first name , not his demeanor — and he was known for an obsession with souped - up Honda Civics that he liked to race . After the bombing , the authorities sent what ’ s being called an unprecedented cellphone alert to area residents , warning of the manhunt for a suspect . Mr . Rahami was found asleep in a doorway of a bar in New Jersey on Monday , and the police were called . After a gunfight with officers , during which he was shot multiple times — including in the leg and shoulder — he was taken into custody and treated at University Hospital in Newark . An officer was hit in his vest in the area of his abdomen , officials said , and at least one other officer was hurt . Mr . Rahami was charged in federal court with several crimes , including the use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use . He was previously charged with seven counts , including five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer . His bail was set at $ 5 . 2 million .

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, in federal court in New York in connection with bombings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and in New Jersey on Saturday.The federal charges came one day after the police arrested and charged him with several counts, including attempted murder of an officer, after a gunfight in Linden, N.J., 15 miles from New York City.Here’s what else we know:Who is Ahmad Khan Rahami?Image Images of Mr. Rahami released by the police. Credit... New Jersey State PoliceMr. Rahami, who previously served time in jail, was born in Afghanistan but is a United States citizen. He lived above the fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, N.J., started by his father, Mohammad, and also worked there.Some of his friends called him Mad — apparently a reference to his first name, not his demeanor — and he was known for an obsession with souped-up Honda Civics that he liked to race.After the bombing, the authorities sent what’s being called an unprecedented cellphone alert to area residents, warning of the manhunt for a suspect. Mr. Rahami was found asleep in a doorway of a bar in New Jersey on Monday, and the police were called.After a gunfight with officers, during which he was shot multiple times — including in the leg and shoulder — he was taken into custody and treated at University Hospital in Newark. An officer was hit in his vest in the area of his abdomen, officials said, and at least one other officer was hurt.Mr. Rahami was charged in federal court with several crimes, including the use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. He was previously charged with seven counts, including five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. His bail was set at $5.2 million.

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1973 : Bomb blasts rock central London Scotland Yard is hunting a teenage suspect after two bombs at mainline stations injured 13 people and brought chaos to central London . The first explosion at King ' s Cross - which injured five people - occurred seconds after a witness saw a youth throw a bag into a booking hall . Fifty minutes later a second blast rocked a snack bar at Euston station , injuring a further eight people . No group has yet said it planted the bombs , but police have said the 2 - 3 lb ( 0 . 9 - 1 . 4 kg ) bombs were typical of IRA manufacture . People were being thrown through the air King ' s Cross witness

1973: Bomb blasts rock central LondonScotland Yard is hunting a teenage suspect after two bombs at mainline stations injured 13 people and brought chaos to central London.The first explosion at King's Cross - which injured five people - occurred seconds after a witness saw a youth throw a bag into a booking hall.Fifty minutes later a second blast rocked a snack bar at Euston station, injuring a further eight people.No group has yet said it planted the bombs, but police have said the 2-3 lb (0.9-1.4 kg) bombs were typical of IRA manufacture.People were being thrown through the airKing's Cross witness

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CAIN Web Service ' Bloody Friday ' - Summary of Main Events [ CAIN_Home ] [ Key_Events ] Key_Issues ] [ Conflict_Background ] ' BLOODY FRIDAY ' : [ Menu ] [ Reading ] [ SUMMARY ] [ Background ] [ Events ] [ Dead ] [ NIO_News - sheet ] [ Sources ] Page Compiled : Martin Melaugh Material is added to this site on a regular basis - information on this page may change Since this was the most devastating day of violence in Belfast up to that time , and many of the injured suffered serious mutilation , the impact on public opinion was enormous , and many observers regarded it as a point at which PIRA [ Provisional Irish Republican Army ] put itself outside the pale of political negotiation . Flackes and Elliott ( 1994 ) Northern Ireland : A Political Directory 1968 - 1993 Many watching the television news reports were reduced to tears by horrifying pictures of firemen and rescue workers . . . scraping up the remains of human beings into plastic bags . . . Bardon ( 1992 ) A History of Ulster ' Bloody Friday ' is the name given to the events that occurred in Belfast on Friday 21 July 1972 . During the afternoon of ' Bloody Friday ' the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) planted and exploded 22 bombs which , in the space of 75 minutes , killed 9 people and seriously injured approximately 130 others . In addition to the bombs there were numerous hoax warnings about other explosive devices which added to the chaos in the streets that afternoon . Many people believe these hoax warnings were deliberately used to reduce the effectiveness of the security forces in dealing with the real bombs . As the quotes above make clear , the killing and maiming had a profound impact on most people in Northern Ireland . ' Bloody Friday ' also led to the decision by the British Government to implement ' Operation Motorman ' when , in the biggest British military operation since the 1956 Suez crisis , the British Army entered and ended the ' no - go ' areas of Belfast and Derry .

CAIN Web Service 'Bloody Friday'- Summary of Main Events[CAIN_Home][Key_Events] Key_Issues] [Conflict_Background]'BLOODY FRIDAY': [Menu] [Reading] [SUMMARY] [Background] [Events] [Dead] [NIO_News-sheet] [Sources]Page Compiled: Martin MelaughMaterial is added to this site on a regular basis - information on this page may change Since this was the most devastating day of violence in Belfast up to that time, and many of the injured suffered serious mutilation, the impact on public opinion was enormous, and many observers regarded it as a point at which PIRA [Provisional Irish Republican Army] put itself outside the pale of political negotiation. Flackes and Elliott (1994) Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1993 Many watching the television news reports were reduced to tears by horrifying pictures of firemen and rescue workers ... scraping up the remains of human beings into plastic bags ... Bardon (1992) A History of Ulster 'Bloody Friday' is the name given to the events that occurred in Belfast on Friday 21 July 1972. During the afternoon of 'Bloody Friday' the Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted and exploded 22 bombs which, in the space of 75 minutes, killed 9 people and seriously injured approximately 130 others. In addition to the bombs there were numerous hoax warnings about other explosive devices which added to the chaos in the streets that afternoon. Many people believe these hoax warnings were deliberately used to reduce the effectiveness of the security forces in dealing with the real bombs. As the quotes above make clear, the killing and maiming had a profound impact on most people in Northern Ireland. 'Bloody Friday' also led to the decision by the British Government to implement 'Operation Motorman' when, in the biggest British military operation since the 1956 Suez crisis, the British Army entered and ended the 'no-go' areas of Belfast and Derry.

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Al Shabaab ’ s Vehicle - Borne IED Campaign : January 2017 – March 2018 Al Shabaab ' s VBIED detonations in Somalia : January 2017 - March 2018 Al Shabaab ’ s vehicle - borne improvised explosive attacks serve as a metric to evaluate the group ’ s ability to disrupt the Somali National Army ( SNA ) and African Union Mission in Somalia ( AMISOM ) forces and threaten the Somali Federal Government ( SFG ) . An ongoing Somali military offensive , backed by the U . S . and an African Union peacekeeping force , has recaptured territory from al Shabaab in south - central Somalia , but has not eliminated al Shabaab ’ s ability to conduct VBIED attacks . [ 1 ] The group uses VBIEDs to breach security installations , often times passing through checkpoints , and conduct high - casualty attacks against government and military personnel . [ 2 ] Outside of Mogadishu , the group uses VBIEDs to gain entry to military bases in order to procure weapons and other supplies and to eliminate AMISOM or Somali government forces from the area , allowing the group to supplant government influence and control populations . [ 3 ] recommended readUS Counterterrorism Objectives in Somalia : Is Mission Failure Likely ? U . S . - backed Somali ground operations along with improved counter - VBIED capabilities among Somali forces may have slightly decreased VBIED attacks between November 2017 and January 2018 . [ 4 ] [ See Figure 2 . ] These countermeasures , nevertheless , have not eliminated al Shabaab ’ s VBIED capability . [ 5 ] Al Shabaab ’ s limited ability to manufacture new VBIEDs , evidenced by reset periods between clusters of attacks , may have contributed to the reduction in VBIED attacks . Al Shabaab will most likely innovate to adapt to new countermeasures . The group developed new ambush tactics to force convoys into IED - laden traps in order to counter IED - resistant vehicles in 2011 , for example . [ 6 ] Continuing to improve the Somali security forces ’ and AMISOM ’ s counter - IED capabilities could reduce the effectiveness of al Shabaab ’ s VBIED attacks . But such a reduction should not be taken as success without simultaneous ground pressure and the reduction of local grievances .

Al Shabaab’s Vehicle-Borne IED Campaign: January 2017–March 2018Al Shabaab's VBIED detonations in Somalia: January 2017 - March 2018Al Shabaab’s vehicle-borne improvised explosive attacks serve as a metric to evaluate the group’s ability to disrupt the Somali National Army (SNA) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces and threaten the Somali Federal Government (SFG).An ongoing Somali military offensive, backed by the U.S. and an African Union peacekeeping force, has recaptured territory from al Shabaab in south-central Somalia, but has not eliminated al Shabaab’s ability to conduct VBIED attacks.[1] The group uses VBIEDs to breach security installations, often times passing through checkpoints, and conduct high-casualty attacks against government and military personnel.[2] Outside of Mogadishu, the group uses VBIEDs to gain entry to military bases in order to procure weapons and other supplies and to eliminate AMISOM or Somali government forces from the area, allowing the group to supplant government influence and control populations.[3]recommended readUS Counterterrorism Objectives in Somalia: Is Mission Failure Likely?U.S.-backed Somali ground operations along with improved counter-VBIED capabilities among Somali forces may have slightly decreased VBIED attacks between November 2017 and January 2018.[4] [See Figure 2.]These countermeasures, nevertheless, have not eliminated al Shabaab’s VBIED capability.[5] Al Shabaab’s limited ability to manufacture new VBIEDs, evidenced by reset periods between clusters of attacks, may have contributed to the reduction in VBIED attacks.Al Shabaab will most likely innovate to adapt to new countermeasures.The group developed new ambush tactics to force convoys into IED-laden traps in order to counter IED-resistant vehicles in 2011, for example.[6] Continuing to improve the Somali security forces’ and AMISOM’s counter-IED capabilities could reduce the effectiveness of al Shabaab’s VBIED attacks.But such a reduction should not be taken as success without simultaneous ground pressure and the reduction of local grievances.

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A televised address by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was cut short during a speech at a military event on Saturday and soldiers were seen running before the TV transmission was cut off . A military demonstration in Venezuela was abruptly interrupted on Saturday after an alleged assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro , according to video of the leaders ' televised address . As documented on video , Maduro was delivering his speech when he and those around him onstage suddenly looked up as participants in the military demonstration rushed from the scene , according to several Venezuelan media outlets with access to the footage According to NTN24 broadcaster , the assassination attempt on Maduro was alleged to have been committed with the use of a drone filled with C - 4 explosives . However , the assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has failed , a source in Caracas told Sputnik on Sunday . " Yes , the assassination has presumably happened , but it turned out to be unsuccessful , " a source said . According to local media reports , Maduro was not injured and was evacuated from the scene . According to Reuters , at least seven national guard soldiers were injured . Local police downed a drone that attacked the scene where officials , including Maduro , were present . According to Venezuela ' s Minister of Information , not one , but several , drones allegedly fitted with explosives attacked the country ' s leadership during a military parade . Meanwhile , local media outlets report that some explosive - carrying drones failed to reach their targets , crashing in a residential area in the center of Caracas , causing fire and large plumes of smoke . # Venezuela Fire in a building in # Caracas , possibly after the drone that aimed to kill Maduro crashed pic . twitter . com / nDzNVnwJ78 — Guy Elster ( @ guyelster ) 4 августа 2018 г . The Venezuelan leader as well as the rest of the political and military leadership of the Latin American country feel fine and were not injured during the attack , according to the president of a state - owned bank Miguel Perez Abad . " Soon , our national government will inform about what happened on the Bolivar avenue … Our President Nicolas Maduro feels fine as well as the supreme political and military command of the revolution , " Perez Abad wrote on Twitter . Venezuela has been recently mired a political and socioeconomic crisis , which many blame on dropping oil prices as well as the leadership ’ s decisions . The nation experienced months of mass protests last year , which initially were a response to the Supreme Court ’ s decision to severely limit the parliament ' s legislative powers . The protests in Venezuela were further fueled by the election of a new lawmaking body , known as the Constituent Assembly , initiated by Maduro with the aim of rewriting the constitution .

A televised address by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was cut short during a speech at a military event on Saturday and soldiers were seen running before the TV transmission was cut off.A military demonstration in Venezuela was abruptly interrupted on Saturday after an alleged assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to video of the leaders' televised address.As documented on video, Maduro was delivering his speech when he and those around him onstage suddenly looked up as participants in the military demonstration rushed from the scene, according to several Venezuelan media outlets with access to the footageAccording to NTN24 broadcaster, the assassination attempt on Maduro was alleged to have been committed with the use of a drone filled with C-4 explosives.However, the assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has failed, a source in Caracas told Sputnik on Sunday."Yes, the assassination has presumably happened, but it turned out to be unsuccessful," a source said.According to local media reports, Maduro was not injured and was evacuated from the scene. According to Reuters, at least seven national guard soldiers were injured.Local police downed a drone that attacked the scene where officials, including Maduro, were present.According to Venezuela's Minister of Information, not one, but several, drones allegedly fitted with explosives attacked the country's leadership during a military parade.Meanwhile, local media outlets report that some explosive-carrying drones failed to reach their targets, crashing in a residential area in the center of Caracas, causing fire and large plumes of smoke.#Venezuela Fire in a building in #Caracas, possibly after the drone that aimed to kill Maduro crashed pic.twitter.com/nDzNVnwJ78 — Guy Elster (@guyelster) 4 августа 2018 г.The Venezuelan leader as well as the rest of the political and military leadership of the Latin American country feel fine and were not injured during the attack, according to the president of a state-owned bank Miguel Perez Abad."Soon, our national government will inform about what happened on the Bolivar avenue … Our President Nicolas Maduro feels fine as well as the supreme political and military command of the revolution," Perez Abad wrote on Twitter.Venezuela has been recently mired a political and socioeconomic crisis, which many blame on dropping oil prices as well as the leadership’s decisions. The nation experienced months of mass protests last year, which initially were a response to the Supreme Court’s decision to severely limit the parliament's legislative powers.The protests in Venezuela were further fueled by the election of a new lawmaking body, known as the Constituent Assembly, initiated by Maduro with the aim of rewriting the constitution.

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( CNN ) Colombia ' s National Liberation Army ( ELN ) is claiming to have carried out the car bomb attack at a police academy in Bogota last week that left at least 20 dead . In a statement , the leftist militant group said the attack was in retaliation for the government ' s bombings of its camps , despite a ceasefire being in place . " Therefore , the operation carried out against said establishment and troops is legal per the ' right of war , ' " said the ELN , which reached a ceasefire agreement with the Colombian government in September 2017 . However , that agreement has been tested by attacks from both sides . The group called upon the government to send a delegation to the negotiating table to continue peace talks , adding , " War is not the future for Colombia , it is peace . " Thursday ' s attack outside the Gen . Santander National Police Academy injured at least 68 others , police said . Read More

(CNN) Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) is claiming to have carried out the car bomb attack at a police academy in Bogota last week that left at least 20 dead.In a statement, the leftist militant group said the attack was in retaliation for the government's bombings of its camps, despite a ceasefire being in place."Therefore, the operation carried out against said establishment and troops is legal per the 'right of war,'" said the ELN, which reached a ceasefire agreement with the Colombian government in September 2017. However, that agreement has been tested by attacks from both sides.The group called upon the government to send a delegation to the negotiating table to continue peace talks, adding, "War is not the future for Colombia, it is peace."Thursday's attack outside the Gen. Santander National Police Academy injured at least 68 others, police said.Read More

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Bogotá car bomb : Colombia blames ELN rebels for deadly explosion Published duration 18 January 2019 image copyright Reuters image caption The explosion outside a police academy shocked the Colombian capital Colombia has blamed the left - wing National Liberation Army ( ELN ) rebel group for a car bomb attack that killed 21 people in the capital , Bogotá . Dozens more were injured in Thursday ' s blast after an explosives - laden vehicle broke into the grounds of a police academy before it detonated . The driver , who was also killed , has been identified as a 57 - year - old man . President Ivan Duque put peace talks with the ELN on hold when he took power in 2018 . Any restart to the negotiations is unlikely following the attack , the deadliest in the country in many years , correspondents say . What has the government said ? The driver , named earlier as José Aldemar Rojas Rodríguez , was a long - time ELN member and the group ' s top explosives expert , Defence Minister Guillermo Botero said . The suspect , known by his war alias " El Mocho " or " Kiko " , had lost his right hand in an accident with an explosive and was based in the northern department of Arauca , from where he frequently crossed into Venezuela . " This was an operation that has been planned for the past 10 months , " Mr Botero said , adding that the guerrillas were the " intellectual authors " behind the driver ' s attack . A second man who had " participated " in the carrying out of the attack was arrested in Bogotá , Attorney General Néstor Humberto Martínez said . image copyright EPA image caption A vigil was held in Bogotá on Thursday to honour the victims President Duque , who visited the site of the explosion on Thursday , described the attack as a " crazy terrorist act " . " We won ' t rest until we capture and bring to justice the terrorists involved , " he said . " Colombians have never yielded to terrorism , we have always defeated it . This will not be an exception . " Colombia ' s High Commissioner for Peace Miguel Ceballos said there would be " no space for dialogue with the ELN until they hand over all the kidnapped people and completely renounce their criminal acts . " What do we know about the explosion ? The grey Nissan Patrol entered the compound of the General Santander police academy in the south of Bogotá where a promotion ceremony for cadets was being held . When the car was stopped by guards at a checkpoint , the driver accelerated and hit a wall , at which point the vehicle exploded . The vehicle was carrying 80kg ( 176lb ) of the powerful explosive pentolite , which has been used in the past by Colombia ' s rebel guerrilla groups . The blast at 09 : 30 local time ( 14 : 30 GMT ) shattered windows of nearby buildings . image copyright EPA image caption The explosion happened outside a school for police cadets Twenty of the victims were police cadets aged between 17 and 22 , Mr Botero said . At least 68 people were injured but the majority of those have since been discharged from hospital . Who are the ELN rebels ? image copyright Getty Images image caption The group has been fighting the Colombian state for more than five decades The 2 , 000 - strong guerrilla group was founded in 1964 to fight against Colombia ' s unequal distribution of land and riches , inspired by the Cuban revolution of 1959 Over the decades , the group has attacked large landholders and multinational companies , and repeatedly blown up oil pipelines To finance itself it has resorted to extortion , kidnappings and drug trafficking It has been strongest in rural areas What ' s the current situation in Colombia ? Car bombs were not uncommon during the decades - long conflict between the Colombian government and left - wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( Farc ) . But an explosion of a car bomb of this size is something that has not happened in a long time in Bogotá and it took the city by surprise , BBC Mundo Colombia correspondent Boris Miranda reports . Colombia has significantly reduced bomb attacks and murders in recent years but the attack shows that it is a continuing fear for citizens , our correspondent adds . The Farc signed a peace agreement with the government in November 2016 and the group has since become a political party of the same name . The party ' s leader , Pastor Alape , condemned the attack . , calling it a " provocation against the political way out of the conflict " . Peace talks between the smaller ELN and the previous government of President Juan Manuel Santos stalled , and President Duque , who takes a more hardline approach to the group , has not resumed them . Related Topics Bogota Colombia

Bogotá car bomb: Colombia blames ELN rebels for deadly explosion Published duration 18 January 2019image copyright Reuters image caption The explosion outside a police academy shocked the Colombian capitalColombia has blamed the left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group for a car bomb attack that killed 21 people in the capital, Bogotá.Dozens more were injured in Thursday's blast after an explosives-laden vehicle broke into the grounds of a police academy before it detonated.The driver, who was also killed, has been identified as a 57-year-old man.President Ivan Duque put peace talks with the ELN on hold when he took power in 2018.Any restart to the negotiations is unlikely following the attack, the deadliest in the country in many years, correspondents say.What has the government said?The driver, named earlier as José Aldemar Rojas Rodríguez, was a long-time ELN member and the group's top explosives expert, Defence Minister Guillermo Botero said.The suspect, known by his war alias "El Mocho" or "Kiko", had lost his right hand in an accident with an explosive and was based in the northern department of Arauca, from where he frequently crossed into Venezuela."This was an operation that has been planned for the past 10 months," Mr Botero said, adding that the guerrillas were the "intellectual authors" behind the driver's attack.A second man who had "participated" in the carrying out of the attack was arrested in Bogotá, Attorney General Néstor Humberto Martínez said.image copyright EPA image caption A vigil was held in Bogotá on Thursday to honour the victimsPresident Duque, who visited the site of the explosion on Thursday, described the attack as a "crazy terrorist act"."We won't rest until we capture and bring to justice the terrorists involved," he said. "Colombians have never yielded to terrorism, we have always defeated it. This will not be an exception."Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace Miguel Ceballos said there would be "no space for dialogue with the ELN until they hand over all the kidnapped people and completely renounce their criminal acts."What do we know about the explosion?The grey Nissan Patrol entered the compound of the General Santander police academy in the south of Bogotá where a promotion ceremony for cadets was being held.When the car was stopped by guards at a checkpoint, the driver accelerated and hit a wall, at which point the vehicle exploded.The vehicle was carrying 80kg (176lb) of the powerful explosive pentolite, which has been used in the past by Colombia's rebel guerrilla groups.The blast at 09:30 local time (14:30 GMT) shattered windows of nearby buildings.image copyright EPA image caption The explosion happened outside a school for police cadetsTwenty of the victims were police cadets aged between 17 and 22, Mr Botero said.At least 68 people were injured but the majority of those have since been discharged from hospital.Who are the ELN rebels?image copyright Getty Images image caption The group has been fighting the Colombian state for more than five decadesThe 2,000-strong guerrilla group was founded in 1964 to fight against Colombia's unequal distribution of land and riches, inspired by the Cuban revolution of 1959Over the decades, the group has attacked large landholders and multinational companies, and repeatedly blown up oil pipelinesTo finance itself it has resorted to extortion, kidnappings and drug traffickingIt has been strongest in rural areasWhat's the current situation in Colombia?Car bombs were not uncommon during the decades-long conflict between the Colombian government and left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).But an explosion of a car bomb of this size is something that has not happened in a long time in Bogotá and it took the city by surprise, BBC Mundo Colombia correspondent Boris Miranda reports.Colombia has significantly reduced bomb attacks and murders in recent years but the attack shows that it is a continuing fear for citizens, our correspondent adds.The Farc signed a peace agreement with the government in November 2016 and the group has since become a political party of the same name.The party's leader, Pastor Alape, condemned the attack. , calling it a "provocation against the political way out of the conflict".Peace talks between the smaller ELN and the previous government of President Juan Manuel Santos stalled, and President Duque, who takes a more hardline approach to the group, has not resumed them.Related Topics BogotaColombia

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Attack on a military base and police training centre comes a day after an assault in Logar province that killed eight . Dozens of Afghan security forces were killed when armed Taliban fighters attacked a military base about 44km southwest of Kabul on Monday . Afghan officials say the death toll is at least 45 , according to the Associated Press news agency , while others put it higher . Provincial Council Member Nafisa Selai Wardak said at least 126 members were killed in the attack that began Monday morning when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive - laden vehicle outside the base in Maidan Shahr , the capital of Wardak province . Another provincial council member , Khawanin Sultani , told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the attack also left more than 70 wounded . Intially the government had said 12 people were killed and about 30 were wounded . Some of the injured were in provincial hospitals , while the more serious cases were being treated in Kabul , said Salem Asgherkhail , head of the area ’ s public health department . The New York Times reported the base was a training centre for the country ’ s national intelligence service , the NDS . If true , this would be the intelligence agency ’ s largest single loss of life in the 17 - year war . The Taliban claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack , according to Nasrat Rahimi , the deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry . Armed Taliban fighters then moved in , a tactic the group has used in many previous attacks . The attack came a day after a Taliban assault in the neighbouring Logar province killed eight security forces . The Taliban has been on the offensive in recent months , attacking targets around the country in an apparent effort to expand their influence and perhaps to gain more leverage in any future peace talks . According to data from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction ( SIGAR ) , the Taliban controls or contests nearly half of Afghanistan . Since July , the US has tried to restart a peace process with the Taliban . US officials have met Taliban representatives in a number of countries . The Taliban has refused to meet Afghan government officials , calling them “ puppets ” . US Senator Lindsey Graham said in Pakistan on Sunday President Donald Trump should meet Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as soon as possible to reset long - difficult US relations and push for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan . US relations with Pakistan have been strained by suspicions that elements in the Pakistani establishment were aiding the Taliban , a charge Islamabad strongly denies . However , relations have appeared to improve in recent months amid efforts to push the armed group towards a peace deal .

Attack on a military base and police training centre comes a day after an assault in Logar province that killed eight.Dozens of Afghan security forces were killed when armed Taliban fighters attacked a military base about 44km southwest of Kabul on Monday.Afghan officials say the death toll is at least 45, according to the Associated Press news agency, while others put it higher.Provincial Council Member Nafisa Selai Wardak said at least 126 members were killed in the attack that began Monday morning when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle outside the base in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province.Another provincial council member, Khawanin Sultani, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the attack also left more than 70 wounded.Intially the government had said 12 people were killed and about 30 were wounded.Some of the injured were in provincial hospitals, while the more serious cases were being treated in Kabul, said Salem Asgherkhail, head of the area’s public health department.The New York Times reported the base was a training centre for the country’s national intelligence service, the NDS.If true, this would be the intelligence agency’s largest single loss of life in the 17-year war.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack, according to Nasrat Rahimi, the deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry.Armed Taliban fighters then moved in, a tactic the group has used in many previous attacks.The attack came a day after a Taliban assault in the neighbouring Logar province killed eight security forces.The Taliban has been on the offensive in recent months, attacking targets around the country in an apparent effort to expand their influence and perhaps to gain more leverage in any future peace talks.According to data from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Taliban controls or contests nearly half of Afghanistan.Since July, the US has tried to restart a peace process with the Taliban. US officials have met Taliban representatives in a number of countries. The Taliban has refused to meet Afghan government officials, calling them “puppets”.US Senator Lindsey Graham said in Pakistan on Sunday President Donald Trump should meet Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as soon as possible to reset long-difficult US relations and push for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan.US relations with Pakistan have been strained by suspicions that elements in the Pakistani establishment were aiding the Taliban, a charge Islamabad strongly denies. However, relations have appeared to improve in recent months amid efforts to push the armed group towards a peace deal.

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