Source: Suspect says Afghanistan, Iraq wars were motivations for Boston bombing attack

A U.S. government official tells CNN that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been cited by the suspect in the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks as motivating factors in his and his brother's reasons for carrying out the attacks.

Investigators interviewed Dzhokhar Tzarnaev in his hospital bed, and though he is debilitated and only able to communicate in a limited fashion, he has provided them with information as to why he and his brother Tamerlan carried out the attacks.

Investigators say he claims they had no contact with any foreign terrorist organization and were self-radicalized on the Internet. The preachings of Anwar al-Awlaki were "likely" to have been among the videos they watched in this process, the government official said.

Investigators are looking into whether or not the magazine "Inspire," put out by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was used for instruction on how to make the bombs.

The government source cautions that this is just what the suspect is saying in these preliminary interviews, and that all of his claims need to be checked out and followed up by investigators.