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Boston Bomb Suspect: Attack Was Retribution for US Actions


Nineteen-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, shown hiding inside a boat during a search for him in Watertown, Massachusetts, April 19, 2013.
Nineteen-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, shown hiding inside a boat during a search for him in Watertown, Massachusetts, April 19, 2013.
Law enforcement sources say the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect scrawled a note on the boat where he was hiding, calling the blasts revenge for U.S. attacks on Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in the boat in a backyard in suburban Boston, four days after the April 15 bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260.

U.S. news media reported Thursday that Tsarnaev called the Boston victims "collateral damage." He said the United States regards Muslims killed in Iraq and Afghanistan the same way.

Part of his note said, "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims."

Tsarnaev was seriously wounded by police before he was captured and is recovering in a prison hospital awaiting a criminal trial. Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, was killed in a police shootout one day earlier.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the Boston Marathon say they are inviting runners who could not finish this year's race because of the bombings to run again in 2014.

The head of the Boston Athletic Association, Tom Grilk, says Boston spectators are known for their unbridled enthusiasm and will give the returning athletes some of the loudest cheers at next year's race.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
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