A United States judge on Wednesday postponed the trial of alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by two months to January 5.

Judge George O'Toole however rejected requests by defense lawyers for the trial to be moved from Boston on the grounds that the 21-year-old would not be able to receive a fair hearing.

Tsarnaev's trial had been due to get under way in November.

Tsarnaev is accused of being one of the masterminds of the twin bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.

The attack killed three people and injured 264.

Authorities said the ethnic Chechen carried out the bombing with his older brother Tamerlan, who was killed during a police manhunt while the pair were on the run.