Boston mosque refuses to offer funeral prayers for marathon bomber: Report
Suspects' uncle approached mosque for funeral, burial services but his request was turned down.
File photo of Boston bombing. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
BOSTON:
A small mosque in Boston, called the “Islamic Society of Boston”, has refused to hold funeral prayers for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, his aunt told NBC News on Wednesday.
According to the report, Patimat Suleimanova said the US authorities had told the family they could have the 26-year-old’s body.
One of the suspects' uncle approached the mosque requesting a burial and funeral services but the mosque declined the request, she added.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the mosque said that the decision to conduct the burial would be made by a scholar. “This one is complex because the things that this guy did were just absolutely disgraceful,” he was quoted by NBC News as saying.
Authorities are still working to piece together a motive for the twin bombings just over a week ago at the Boston marathon that killed three people and wounded 264, as more details emerged about the ethnic Chechen brothers accused of carrying out the attack.
Still hospitalised, 19-year-old Dzhokhar has reportedly admitted to being driven by radical ideas, telling investigators the attacks were motivated by the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The brothers weren't particularly diligent about attending prayer services, community members said, adding that the mosque has an ongoing cooperation with authorities to report any suspicious behaviour.
Older brother Tamerlan, 26, who was killed during a shootout with police on Friday, began attending prayers intermittently over a year ago, the Cambridge mosque said Tuesday in a statement.
The small mosque, called the "Islamic Society of Boston," hosts around a hundred worshippers at Friday prayers, and around 20 during the week.
A small mosque in Boston, called the “Islamic Society of Boston”, has refused to hold funeral prayers for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, his aunt told NBC News on Wednesday.
According to the report, Patimat Suleimanova said the US authorities had told the family they could have the 26-year-old’s body.
One of the suspects' uncle approached the mosque requesting a burial and funeral services but the mosque declined the request, she added.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the mosque said that the decision to conduct the burial would be made by a scholar. “This one is complex because the things that this guy did were just absolutely disgraceful,” he was quoted by NBC News as saying.
Authorities are still working to piece together a motive for the twin bombings just over a week ago at the Boston marathon that killed three people and wounded 264, as more details emerged about the ethnic Chechen brothers accused of carrying out the attack.
Still hospitalised, 19-year-old Dzhokhar has reportedly admitted to being driven by radical ideas, telling investigators the attacks were motivated by the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The brothers weren't particularly diligent about attending prayer services, community members said, adding that the mosque has an ongoing cooperation with authorities to report any suspicious behaviour.
Older brother Tamerlan, 26, who was killed during a shootout with police on Friday, began attending prayers intermittently over a year ago, the Cambridge mosque said Tuesday in a statement.
The small mosque, called the "Islamic Society of Boston," hosts around a hundred worshippers at Friday prayers, and around 20 during the week.