The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack.

Piece of the pressure cooker bomb
Piece of the pressure cooker used as part of bomb in Boston Marathon explosions (FBI)
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Rep. Michael McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack — shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs — and the weapons' sophistication as signs of training.

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.

McCaul also tells "Fox News Sunday" that he thinks the suspects' mother played "a very strong role" in her sons' radicalization process and that if she were to return to the United States from Russia, she'd be held for questioning.

Boston suspects' father postpones trip to US

Anzor Tsarnaev
Anzor Tsarnaev (YouTube)
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The father of the two Boston bombing suspects says he is postponing a trip to the United States because of poor health.

Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press on Sunday that he is "really sick" and his blood pressure had spiked.

Tsarnaev said last week that he planned to travel from Russia to the U.S. with the hope of seeing his younger son, who is under arrest, and burying his elder son, who was killed in a clash with police.

Tsarnaev confirmed that he is staying in Chechnya, a province in southern Russia, but did not specify whether he was hospitalized.

Until Friday, he and the suspects' mother had been living in the neighboring province of Dagestan.

Boston bomb suspect in small cell with steel door

Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts (WHDH TV)
Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts (WHDH TV)
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The Boston Marathon bombing suspect is being held in a small cell with a steel door at a federal medical detention center about 40 miles outside the city.

A federal official describes the conditions under which 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in the facility after being moved there from a hospital Friday.

Federal Medical Center Devens spokesman John Collauti said Tsarnaev is in secure housing where authorities can monitor him. His cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication.

Collauti wouldn't discuss specific details related to Tsarnaev but said normally medical workers monitor the inmates. He said guards keep an eye on some cells with video cameras.

Tsarnaev's mother said the bombing allegations against him are lies.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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