Chechen roots may not explain suspects' motive for Boston bombings

The Chechen roots of the Boston bombing suspects may lead some people to jump to erroneous conclusions about the possible motive for the attack, experts say.

While the brothers suspected of launching the attack are of Chechen ethnicity, the rebel movement there targets Russia, and has no quarrel with the United States.

"I generally urge caution when drawing these links between Chechnya and the current situation in Boston," says Dr. Peter Rudloff, an Asst. Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma State University.

"It's not that the United States has ever directly intervened in Chechnya, for example."

The former Soviet Republic struggled against becoming part of the new Russian Confederation in 1991, and Chechen rebels have fought a bloody and protracted war of terror against the Russian state ever since.

One of the most horrific attacks occurred when Chechen militants seized a school in neighboring North Ossetia in 2004.

More than 300 people, mostly children, died in the attack and an ensuing attempt by Russia to storm the school.

Chechen rebels also famously attacked a theater in Moscow in 2002.

Some 40 rebels held 850 theater patrons hostage, and Russia responded by pumping some kind of chemical into the theater and then raiding it, which resulted in the deaths of all the rebels and about 130 hostages.

Dr. Robert Donaldson of the University of Tulsa is an expert on Russian culture and politics.

He says it's too early to draw any conclusions about possible motives in the Boston bombings.

"It's not even necessarily a religious link. It could well be just two very alienated and angry young men. It's really hard to say at this point," he told KRMG.

Most ethnic Chechens practice the Islamic faith.