Three friends of Boston bombing suspect arrested

BOSTON (AP):



Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested today.



The three were accused of removing a backpack containing fireworks emptied of gunpowder from Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to try to keep him from getting into trouble.



Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice.



A third man, Robel Phillipos, was charged with lying to investigators about the visit to Tsarnaev's room.



In court papers, the FBI said Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev agreed to throw the backpack in the garbage – it was later found in a landfill by law enforcement officers – after concluding from news reports that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was one of the bombers.



A court appearance for the three was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.



Their lawyers refused to comment ahead of the hearing.



Three people were killed and more than 260 injured on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line. The suspect's brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died after a gunfight with police days later.



Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, was captured and lies in a prison hospital.



FOR MORE STORIES WATCH:

Like our new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/gleanerjamaica



Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/JamaicaGleaner



onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com