ISIS claims California shooters as followers of militant group

The FBI said the shooting on Wednesday is being investigated as terrorism, despite objections from Farook’s family, who said the declaration is “premature” and “irresponsible”.

Attendes reflect on the tragedy of Wednesday’s attack during a candlelight vigil in San Bernardino, California. Farook communicated with i… A year before she got married, she began wearing a scarf that covered all but her nose and eyes, the maid said. They say they didn’t know he was busy with his wife building pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for the assault on Farook’s colleagues from San Bernardino County’s health department.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is lauding the San Bernardino, Calif., gunmen as “supporters” of the group, but stopping short of claiming full affiliation. Malik was killed alongside her husband four hours later in a shootout with police.

Update 3:41 p.m. ET: FBI Director James Comey said in a media briefing there is no indication the two suspects in the shooting are part of a larger network, or a terrorist “cell”.

Federal investigators continued trying to establish what pushed the couple to carry out what appears to be the deadliest attack on American soil by Islamic extremists since 9/11.

He said his country is ready to share any information it has about Malik and her family. “I do not know what had happened to her. She brought a bad name to our family”.

Malik, born in Pakistan, moved to Saudi Arabia when she was a child.

Three U.S. officials familiar with the San Bernardino, California, massacre have told CNN that the woman involved in the shooting authored – as the incident was occurring – a Facebook post declaring her loyalty to the leader of ISIS.

Tashfeen Malik came back to Pakistan and studied pharmacy at Multan’s Bahauddin Zakaria University from 2007 to 2012. It was not immediately clear whether she graduated.

Reuters reported that Pakistani intelligence has contacted Malik’s relatives about Wednesday’s mass killing.

Though initial speculation on the San Bernardino, California shooting attack was that it was a case of workplace violence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation now says they are treating it as a “terrorism” case because of signs of “radicalization” of one of the shooters.

As for evidence that Farook, too, had become radicalized, US officials said that he had been in contact with extremists via social media. But it wasn’t something that they would be getting together every single day or every single week.

Nothing, according to attorneys David Chesley and Mohammad Abuershaid, who represent Farook’s mother and three siblings.

The attack, which left 14 dead, has shocked Malik’s family. They cautioned against rushing to judgment on their motivations.

An English-language version of the Islamic State’s broadcast called the attackers “soldiers” for the group, rather than “followers” as in the original Arabic version. The official was not allowed to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We always seem to assume only a man would be capable of making a terrorist attack”, DeLong-Bas said.

In the last 21 months, at least 71 people in the US were charged with ISIS-related activities, including 10 women, according to authorities.

The Associated Press said Facebook discovered the account on Thursday. “We are from a land of Sufi saints… this is very shocking for us”, said school teacher Hifza Bibi, the step-sister of Malik’s father, who lives in Karor Lal Esan town in Punjab province.