U.S. was alerted to bombing suspect's travel to Russia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston was alerted when one of the two brothers who later allegedly carried out the Boston Marathon bombings travelled to Russia, U.S. officials said on Wednesday in one of several disclosures that cast new light on the government's handling of the case.

The officials also said Russia, which had tipped off the FBI about its concerns over one of the men, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in early 2011 and asked the agency to look into him, made a second, identical request to the CIA in late September 2011.