Boston bomber arrested: Tamerlan Tsarnaev was questioned by FBI in 2011

One of the two brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing was questioned by the FBI two years ago but dismissed as being no threat, it was disclosed on Saturday.

As the hunt for the bombers culminated in a dramatic shoot-out, it emerged that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been interviewed by US officials in 2011 because the Russian government was concerned over his ties to “radical Islam”.

There were fears that Tamerlan, who was killed while trying to flee police on Friday evening, was ready to travel to the Caucasus to join “underground groups”. However, the 26-year-old was released after the FBI assessed he had no connection to terrorist activity.

The disclosure came just hours after the manhunt for Tamerlan’s younger brother Dzhokhar, one of the biggest in US history, had culminated in a suburban back garden.