One of the brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombings had direct contact with Chechen terrorists – and was ‘monitored’ by investigators for five years. The Mail on Sunday has learned that the FBI put Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, under surveillance after receiving an explicit warning from the Russian intelligence services. But despite apparently telling his mother that Tamerlan was an ‘extremist’ leader, the FBI eventually discounted the possibility that he was a threat. Scroll down for video Rebel: One theory is that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was inspired by Doku Umarov, a Chechen terrorist known as Russia's Bin Laden Tamerlan was shot dead by police early on Friday while his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar was captured alive but seriously injured with neck and leg injuries on Friday night. He had been hiding in a boat in a suburban backyard.
@highlight
Russian intelligence services warned agency about Tamerlan Tsarnaev
@highlight
Convinced he was in 'direct contact' with Islamist militants
@highlight
May have been inspired by Chechen rebel leader man known as Russia's Bin Landen - Doku Umarov
@highlight
Believed to be behind some of Russia's worst terrorist atrocities
@highlight
But FBI later discounted Tamerlan as a threat, despite telling his mother he was an 'extremist leader'
‘Fighting terrorism is more important than political posturing,’ said a @placeholder source yesterday.