Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) Says Terror Suspects Were Trained Before Boston Marathon Bombing Attacks

On FOX News Sunday this morning, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Chris Wallace that the Boston terrorist bombers, Tamerlan Dzhohkar Tsarnaeva, had some training prior to the before the Boston Marathon attacks. Wallace stated that the FBI now says that that toy remote controllers were used to detonate the bomb were sophisticated more than what was in the Al Qaeda online magazine Inspire. This is inconsistent from what suspect #2, Dzhohkar Tsarnaeva, told federal authorities. Rep. Michael McCaul responded that he is lead to believe from the signature pressure cookers device and the sophistication that there was a trainer(s) and it leads me to ask whether that trainer is in Pakistan or the United States.

From CBS News DC:

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says he believes the Boston Marathon bombing suspects had some training in carrying out their attack.

Rep. Michael McCaul is citing the type of device used in the attack — shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs — and the weapons’ sophistication as signs of training.

Homemade bombs built from pressure cookers have been a frequent weapon of militants in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen once published an online manual on how to make one.