Bomber attended radical mosque in Chechnya

Washington Times:

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee says he’s convinced the Boston bombing suspects had ties to Islamic extremism in their native Chechnya.

“The mosque that the older brother attended in Chechnya is one of the most radicalized. The types of doctrine that comes out of that mosque are al-Qaeda-inspired,” Rep. Ed Royce, California Republican, told CNN’s “Starting Point” on Friday.

Mr. Royce says that Chechen rebels, who for years have been engaged in terrorist attacks in a push to break from Russia to form a caliphate — an independent Muslim state — for the Caucasus region, are linked “to this particular al Qaeda network.”

“They have a wider vision of what they want to do with a caliphate and apparently the older brother, for the six months that he was there, was brought into the fold in terms of that movement,” he said.

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There is evidence to suggest he was already pretty radical before he went on the trip, but it si quite possible he went to places to reaffirm his extreme beliefs.  The FBI needs to work with the Russians to find out more about the nature of the mosque he attended.