Islamic State praises radicalized California killers
Islamic State claims that two of its supporters were responsible for Wednesday’s deadly shooting in California. Fourteen people were gunned down by couple Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, who were later killed by police. Just hours before, Malik had plegded allegiance to Islamic State. The group has praised the couple as "soldiers of the caliphate."
Issued on: Modified:
In its English-language radio broadcast, the Islamic State group hailed the perpetrators of Wednesday's mass shooting in the US state of California as "soldiers of its caliphate."
US-born Muslim Syed Farook, along with his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik, gunned down 14 people in California, before being killed in a shootout with police.
It's believed the couple may have been radicalised and had been in contact with known terrorism suspects
The FBI is now treating the shooting as "a terrorist act" after reports that Malik had pledged allegiance to IS on Facebook.
"Two soldiers of the Khilafah (caliphate) executed an attack on the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino, California," IS said on Saturday.
IS refers to the swathe of territory it controls in Syria and Iraq as an Islamic caliphate.
But the group stopped short of issuing an official claim of responsibility for the shooting in the format it has used in the past for attacks in Paris and elsewhere.
According to US government sources however, there is no evidence the attack was directed by the militant group, or that it even knew who the attackers were.
On Saturday, US President Barack Obama insisted that America "will not be terrorized."
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe