Boston suspect transferred to prison medical center

NEW YORK: The surviving Boston marathon-bombing suspect has been transferred from a hospital to a prison medical facility, the US Marshals Service was quoted as saying Friday.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was sent to the Federal Medical Center Devens, near Boston, spokesman Drew Wade told CNN.

The facility is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of the Boston-area hospital where Tsarnaev had been convalescing since he was found critically wounded in a boat in a massive police manhunt, days after the bombing which killed three and wounded 264.

His elder brother Tamerlan died in a wild shootout with police that same night as they tried to flee Boston in a hijacked car.

The US Marshals Service and the prison medical facility could not immediately be reached to confirm the report.

The reported transfer came a day after officials said the brothers had planned to detonate more explosives in Times Square in New York as they were being hunted by police.

New York police chief Ray Kelly said the pair intended to use a pressure-cooker bomb -- similar to the two that erupted at the marathon -- as well as five pipe bombs and improvised grenades they still had on hand as they drove around in a hijacked black Mercedes.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev confessed the plan to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in his hospital bed, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, calling it a "horrific reminder that we remain targets for terrorists."

"Last night, we were informed by the FBI that the surviving attacker revealed that New York City was next on their list of targets," Bloomberg told reporters Thursday.

The pair -- accused of carrying out the attacks near the Boston Marathon finish line -- aimed to use their remaining explosives in Times Square, he added.

They made a "spontaneous" decision to go to New York as they raced around the Boston suburbs in a car with at least six bombs, according to Kelly.

The night finished with a policeman killed and another gravely wounded, besides one of the suspects dead and the other wounded.

But the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee disputed that claim, saying it was more likely the Tsarnaev brothers were planning another attack in Boston instead.