California massacre shooter pledged allegiance to Islamic State - sources
One of the two people accused of killing 14 at a holiday party apparently pledged allegiance to a leader of an Islamic State militant group, two US government source said today.
Tashfeen Malik, 27, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were killed in a shootout with police hours after the Wednesday massacre at the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 100 km east of Los Angeles. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting the United States has experienced in three years.
US investigators are evaluating evidence that Malik, a Pakistani native who had been living in Saudi Arabia when she married Farook, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, two US officials told Reuters. They said the finding, if confirmed, could be a "game changer" in the investigation.
CNN reported that one US official said Malik had pledged allegiance to al-Baghdadi in a posting on Facebook made on Wednesday, the day of the attack, under an account that used a different name.
The investigation has been focused on the motivation for the attack with officials including President Barack Obama and San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan saying it...