One of the San Bernardino shooters is reported to have pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State militant group, according to two U.S. government sources this Friday.
Tashfeen Malik, 27, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were killed by San Bernardino police in Wednesday’s massacre at the Inland Regional Center social services agency. The couple is responsible for one of the deadliest mass shootings the United States has experienced in three years, killing 14 people and injuring 21.
According to U.S. Investigators, Malik, who is a Pakistani native and had lived in Saudi Arabia when she married Farook, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a Facebook post made on Wednesday, the day of the attack, under an account that used a different name.
Breaking: investigators find #ISIS link to #sanbernardino shooting, wife pledged allegiance to #albaghdadi on FB during attack – sources
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 4, 2015
While the Islamic State has not yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, they have called on supporters worldwide to strike targets in the West following the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and injured hundreds.
The couple left behind a six-month-old daughter. Farook’s brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, told NBC News he has started the legal proceedings in adopting the girl.
“You left your 6-month-old daughter,” Khan said. “In this life some people cannot have kids. God gave you a gift of a daughter. And you left that kid behind … What did you achieve?”
Farook, a U.S. citizen born in Illinois, was the son of Pakistani immigrants, said Hussam Ayloush, head of the Los Angeles area chapter of the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).Police will continue reviewing the couples’ computers and cellphones to see if they had browsed jihadist websites or had contact with militant groups. The couple had two assault rifles, two semi-automatic handguns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in their vehicle, with 12 pipe bombs found in their home.
CNN: San Bernadino shooter’s wife pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook. Remember, he found her on a dating site https://t.co/QWcKaryjej
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) December 4, 2015
Featured image via Flickr
Leave a Reply