‘Boston bomber`s slain affiliate Ibragim Todashev not an Islamist’

Washington: Ibragim Todashev, an affiliate of slain Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was himself killed by US security personnel, was an aspiring athlete who took no interests in politics or radical Islam, his widow said. "We avoided talking about politics because we had nothing to do with it," Rene Manukyan, who was married to Ibragim Todashev, told Voice of Russia radio.

Todashev, a 27-year-old Orlando resident, wanted to make a career in mixed martial arts and spent all of his time training for fights, said Manukyan. She said she was supporting him financially. "He was concentrated on his fighting. He had gym, had daily training. He was physically unable to work. It was normal for me," Manukyan said. Todashev was shot dead Wednesday when attacking an FBI agent during questioning, according to the Boston division of the FBI. Media claimed that Todashev confessed to participation in an unsolved 2011 triple murder that was recently linked to brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, accused of organising the Boston marathon bombings that killed three people and injured around 260 April 15. Todashev never mentioned the 2011 murder, Manukyan said. Todashev and Tamerlan Tsarnayev, both ethnic Chechens, knew each other through the local Chechen community and because they used the same gym, Manukyan said. But Todashev was not friends with Tsarnayev, who was slain by police four days after the Boston bombings, Manukyan said. "As for religion, he never was a radical, or a fanatic follower of Islam. He observed everything, but there was no zealotry or craziness," Manukyan said. IANS