the region is home to a violent islamic uprising. known extremists are closely monitored here. their phones are tapped, and mosqued are under tight surveillance. they monitor all phone calls with family and relatives, and if certain islamic phrases are used, they start to monitor those people. analyst ruslan thinks that is likely how tamerlan raised alarm bells with russian officials in 2011, and as a result, he was likely under surveillance during his visit here, making meetings with militants even less likely. the mosque here where militants have been known to pray insist they never saw tamerlan. and they say they don t preach violence against the united states. other experts agree on that last point, noting that terror groups here are focused on their war with russia and often look for sympathy in the united states. the biggest militant group here issued a statement saying they had nothing to do with the boston bombings.
you know, the wars in iraq and afghanistan have been going on for a decade. when you see somebody who s self radicalized, there s usually another turning point. somebody who influences them. now we re learning from tamerlan s uncle, who says there was a such person, a person here in cambridge, 2009. and the uncle said that this person was really getting into tamerlan s head and telling them all about radical islam. he was worried about he actually called a family friend to see what it s about. here s what the uncle told us. i called one of the gentlemen living in that area. i said listen, do you know what is going on with that family? with my brother s family?
there are no contact with foreign groups. this is just the word of one guy who a lot of people don t have any trust for. and, of course, the older brother, tamerlan, spent all of that time abroad. so he spent all of that time abroad. and people are looking to his time and if there was anything there. it was self radicalization from watch watching the internet, although they are looking into investigators whether or not that al kwa da in the arabian peninsula magazine inspired played any role, teaching people how to make bombs in the kich b. en. they were looking into that, but so far, nothing definitive. anderson? we re going to check in with our correspondent nick robertson. we want to bring in drew graf fin. we re learning in the last hour or two, after our 8:00 broadcast, more about a person here who may have influenced the older brother.
says hey, i ve got him right here. he s buying this now. and we don t know the purpose of them. no, we don t, but that will all be part of the investigation. police did find some in the younger brother? yes, a large pyrotechnic is how it was described in the criminal clant. the planning goes back several months. absolutely. you can follow me on twitter @andersoncooper. coming up, what the f.b.i. knew about tamerlan s possible overseas connections. and when they knew it, what was he doing over there? he left his wife, he left his little baby here for six months to go to russia? why? we re trying to figure that out. details obama thn that ahead.
going to show you, this is a car that they left behind in which there are a lot of bombs and a robot looking for volatile sub stanszs in this car. anderson? amazing pictures. amazing he had the presence of mind to do that. drew, you re getting some information about fireworks or pyrotechnic devices. yes, february 6, tamerlan, the older brother, goes to new hampshire where fireworks are legal. he goes into the store and says what is the biggest, loudest thing you have. he buys two of these. they are called lock and load kits, reloadble mortar kits. easily traceable, anderson. you have to write down your identification, your driver s license number when you buy this stuff in new hampshire. so the guy after the bombings, the guy at the store calls up law enforcement and says hey, i ve got him right here. he s buying this now. and we don t know the purpose of them.