NBC: Boston Terror Suspects Have International Ties and Have Been in U.S. Legally for About 1 Year

(FBI)

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​UPDATE 7:05 a.m. ET — NBC News and the AP report the bombing suspects are brothers of Chechen origin; had been legal permanent residents in the U.S. for one year; ages 19 and 20. Surviving suspect identified as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, of Cambridge, Mass.

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UPDATE 6:54 a.m. ET​ --

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[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/AP/status/325198361428893698"]

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NBC News, citing law enforcement sources, is reporting that the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings have international ties and have been in the U.S. legally for about a year. It is the first piece of key information about the alleged terrorists that will undoubtedly come pouring in over the next few days.

One of two suspects in the deadly bombing is dead and a massive manhunt was still underway for another, authorities said early Friday. TheBlaze followed the incredible story throughout the night and into the early morning hours Friday.

"The suspect at large — believed to be the man who physically placed the bags containing the homemade bombs which killed 3 and injured 170 on Monday — was described as "dressed in a grey hoodie, light skinned male, brown curly hair," NBC News reports.

The Middlesex district attorney said the two men are suspected of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer on campus late Thursday, then stealing a car at gunpoint and later releasing its driver unharmed. Hours earlier, police had released photos of the marathon bombing suspects and asked for the public's help finding them. A new photo of the suspect on the loose was released later showing him in a grey hoodie sweatshirt. It was taken at a 7-Eleven in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston.

Authorities say the suspects threw explosives from the car as police followed it into Watertown. The suspects and police exchanged gunfire, and one of the suspects was critically injured and later died at a hospital while the other escaped.

The MIT shooting on the Cambridge campus Thursday night was followed by reports of gunfire and explosions in Watertown, about 10 miles west of Boston. There were also unconfirmed reports of three other injured officers.

The MIT officer had been responding to report of a disturbance Thursday night when he was shot multiple times, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney's office and Cambridge police. It said there were no other victims.

In Watertown, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.