Boston bombings suspect struggled with Islam

22 April 2013 - 18:27 By Sapa-AP
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Tamerlan Tsarnaev waits for a decision in the 201-pound division boxing match during the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions May 4, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. File photo.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev waits for a decision in the 201-pound division boxing match during the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions May 4, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. File photo.
Image: Glenn DePriest/Getty Images/AFP

An aunt of the elder Boston bombing suspect says he struggled to find himself while trying to reconnect with his Chechen identity on a trip to Russia last year.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev "seemed to be more American" than Chechen and "didn't fit into the Islamic world," his aunt Patimat Suleimanova told The Associated Press.

Suleimanov added that Tsarnaev spoke daily on Skype to his American-born wife, who had recently converted to Islam, and that she instructed him on how to observe Islam correctly.

Investigators are focusing on the six months Tsarnaev spent last year in southern Russia, where he stayed with his father for at least part of the time.

Tsarnaev was killed in a gun battle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was later captured alive, but badly wounded.

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