Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev 'bomb suspects'

THE suspects wanted in relation to the Boston Marathon bombing are brothers of Chechen origin, the New York Times reports.

One of the men, identified by the FBI as Suspect 1, is believed to be Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26. He died in hospital from "multiple gunshot wounds and possible blast injuries", after a confrontation with police this morning. Authorities are investigating whether he had an improvised explosive device strapped to his body, law enforcement officials said.

The other man, Suspect 2, who is still on the run, is believed to be Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, aged 19, who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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It is understood that both men lived in Turkey before arriving in the US about a year ago.

Chechnya is located in the south-eastern part of Europe in the North Caucasus mountains. The country has "been plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars", says NDTV.

The hunt for the younger Tsarnaev brother followed a night of chaotic violence in Boston. It was triggered by the murder of a campus guard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was shot while sitting in his car after responding to a disturbance. The shooting was followed by a carjacking and a confrontation between two men and police in the nearby district of Watertown.

Watertown residents reported hearing explosions and gunfire. A large part of the area is still in lockdown and people are being told to stay in their homes.

Colonel Tim Alben of the Massachusetts State Police said the suspects believed to have killed the MIT guard are thought to be "the same individuals that were responsible for the bombing on Monday at the Boston Marathon. We believe that they’re responsible for the death of an MIT police officer and the shooting of an MBTA officer."

He confirmed that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the man shown wearing a black hat in a photograph of the two marathon bombing suspects, was dead. Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, the man wearing a white hat in the picture, was still being sought by police.