Two brothers of Chechen origin suspected of staging the Boston marathon bombings, one of whom has been shot dead by police, are innocent of any crime, the Interfax news agency quotes a man identified as their father as saying.

‘‘In my opinion, my children were set up by the secret services because they are practising Muslims,’’ Anzor Tsarnaev told the Interfax news agency on Friday from the North Caucasus Russian city of Makhachkala.

'A true angel': the father of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev speaks out.

Anzor Tsarnaev is the father of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot dead by police in Boston on Friday, and his 19-year-old brother and co-suspect Dzhokhar, who remains on the run in the area, Interfax said.

‘‘Why did they kill Tamerlan? They should have taken him alive,’’ said the father.