DHAKA: The US Justice Department will decide this week whether to seek the death penalty for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused of setting off two pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the world-renowned race.

US Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he would announce his decision before a Friday deadline set by a US District Court Judge in Boston, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Tsarnaev, a 20-year-old ethnic Chechen, is accused of detonating the home-made bombs along with his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a shootout with police several days after the April 15 attack.

Three people, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed in the blasts, which marked the worst attack on US soil since September 11, 2001. Another 264 people were injured by shrapnel, many of them losing limbs.

BDST: 1500 HRS, JAN 30, 2014