California attacker ‘pledged allegiance to Islamic State’

The Islamic State group on Saturday said that a married couple who murdered 14 people in California in an attack the FBI is investigating as an “act of terrorism” were followers of the terrorist organization.

FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director in Charge, David Bowdich, made the announcement during a news conference Friday.

Should the investigation prove that the attack was indeed inspired by militant Islamism, it would count as the most serious such attack since September 11, 2001.

Malik posted a message on Facebook pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the terrorist group Islamic State, Mr. Comey said.

U.S. government sources said Malik apparently had pledged allegiance to a leader of Daesh.

Farook and Malik – who dropped off their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother shortly beforehand, were killed in a shootout with police five hours after the massacre. But analysts say a sudden surge of chatter is only meant to capitalize on the FBI’s newly announced terrorism classification.

FBI Director James Comey stressed, however, that the investigation had not shown any evidence that the couple were part of a terror cell.

Investigators are reviewing the couples’ computers and cellphones to see if they had browsed jihadist websites or had contact with militant groups, according to officials in Washington familiar with the investigation.

“They just knew her as Syed’s wife”, he said.

Farook, born in IL to Pakistani immigrant parents, worked as an inspector for the San Bernardino County Department of Environment Health, the agency whose holiday party he and Malik are accused of attacking on Wednesday.

The couple’s family have said they are “in complete shock” and had no indication that they were radicalised or had stockpiled weapons, ammunition and pipe bombs found by investigators at their home.

Chesley added that engaging with Internet content about radical Islam is not enough to prove that his client was a terrorist, explaining, “I’ve checked out a Britney Spears post, and I hate Britney Spears music”.

“At this stage, we do not yet know why the bad event occurred”, said Obama, who has repeatedly called on the Republican-controlled Congress to pass tougher gun control measures, after a string of mass shootings across the United States in recent years.

Pakistani intelligence has been assisting with the investigation, her family said. He returned to the US with a wife, Malik, whom he had met online.