Boston bombing suspects' mother says Tamerlan shot 'needlessly'

The mother of the two brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings launched an impassioned attack yesterday on US authorities over the death of one of her sons, as her husband planned to return to the United States to find out what happened.

The parents of the two suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, spoke from the Russian region of Dagestan, where they were living when the Boston marathon bombings took place.

The father, Anzor, calmly revealed plans to travel to the US in the coming days. But their mother, Zubeidat, in a hugely emotional intervention, accused the US security services of needlessly killing her eldest son.

Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a shoot-out and Dzhokhar, 19, was gravely wounded during his capture by the US authorities.

"[Tamerlan was] killed, cruelly killed," Zubeidat said. "I want to scream to the whole world, what did you do? He was alive!"