According to the Daily Mail, Saudi Arabia warned the United States about Boston Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev long before two bombs exploded near the finish line at the Boston Marathon last month, which killed three people and injured scores more.
A letter to the Department of Homeland Security, written by the country, allegedly named Tsarnaev and three other Pakistanis as potential jihadis and urged the U.S. to conduct an investigation. A senior Saudi government official with direct knowledge of the document told the Daily Mail that the Saudi government also blocked the bombing suspect from obtaining an entry visa in 2011 when he wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
The written warning was based on human intelligence developed in Yemen and warned that “something was going to happen in a major U.S. city.” However, the document did not name Boston or warn of a date of an attack.
The Department of Homeland Security denied any written warning about Tsarnaev from Saudi Arabia. It claims it “has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior to the attack.”
The White House also denied such a report.
“We and other relevant U.S. government agencies have no record of such a letter being received,” said Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the president’s National Security Council.
However, President Barack Obama annouced on Tuesday that the government will conduct an investigation into the sharing of information among the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies of the federal government.
