Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awake and responding to FBI questions in writing

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is conscious and answering to the FBI questions in writing in his hospital bed.

The 19-year-old Boston Marathon bomber is responding sporadically in writing to questions from investigators regarding other cell members and other unexploded bombs, law enforcement officials said.

Agents are quizzing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev about whether he had any accomplices who helped him carry out his attacks.

The news comes as it is revealed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is badly wounded in the throat, meekly pulled up his shirt to show officers that he was not wearing a vest strapped with explosives on Friday night as he emerged from David Henneberry’s boat he had been cowering in.

“At the end they were just making demands of him: Show your hands, lift your shirt. And eventually that’s what he did,” Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau told ABC News.

“He was very slow and lethargic in every move that he made and they could see that there was no device on his chest. They kept creeping closer to him and then they felt it safe enough to pull him away from the boat.”

Authorities initially said they couldn’t question the terror suspect because of his severe throat wound.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is believed to have shoved his pistol in his own mouth and pulled the trigger in a failed suicide attempt as SWAT officers and federal agents closed in on his backyard hiding place. However, instead of killing him, the bullet simply tore through his neck.

CNN reported earlier today that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was “intubated and sedated” at a Boston hospital.

The Boston police commissioner said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in “critical but stable” condition on Sunday – which appears to be a downgrade from reports earlier this weekend that his condition was only “serious”.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino had earlier feared that federal agents would never be able to interview Dzhokhar Tsarnaev but it seems that investigators may already be making progress.