by Rachel Ogbu

One of the Boston bombing suspect was killed in a shootout with police earlier today.

The suspect, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev is said to be the brother of second suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is still on the run.

Sources have told the Associated Press that the Boston bomb suspects are from a Russian region near Chechnya and have lived legally in the US for at least one year. It has also been suggested that they may have had military training.

According to reports, Russia’s North Caucasus region has been afflicted by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars in Chechnya.

The theory going now is that the suspects could be linked to militants from Chechnya and other restive regions in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus who have targeted Moscow and other areas with bombings and hostage-takings, but their possible involvement in the Boston Marathon explosions would be the first time they had attacked the West.

The other suspect on the run is being hunted down by security officials in Boston. Public transport were suspended earlier and residents were asked to stay indoors and businesses were urged not to open. Even people at the bus stops were told to return home, all transit service by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority were suspended until further notice, vehicle traffic was also suspended in and out of Watertown, Boston police said.

New reports say the Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace over a 7-mile-wide (11 km) stretch of the northwest Boston area on Friday to provide a “safe environment for law-enforcement activities” as police search continued.