US investigators probing Wednesday's California massacre are looking into the possibility of the Pakistani-origin couple's links with extremists owing allegiance to the dreaded ISIS. Citing officials familiar with the investigation, CNN reported on Friday that Tashfeen Malik, the female Pakistani shooter, had posted a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook, apparently just as the attack was happening.
Malik's post, however, was made on an account with a different name, one US official was quoted as saying, without explaining how they came to the conclusion. According to a law enforcement official, it was "looking more and more like self-radicalisation". Officials have separately determined that Malik's husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, was apparently "radicalised" and in touch with some suspected extremists.
Citing a senior official, The los Angeles Times reported that Farook was in contact with a few suspected extremists, with at least one of them being monitored as a potential terror suspect. The finding could throw open the possibility of a “deeper terror matrix” behind the San Bernardino killings.
While firm conclusions are still to be reached, the authorities appear to be increasingly viewing the massacre as a potential terrorist act.
As investigations gathered speed, law enforcement officials recovered a veritable arsenal of weapons and explosives at the Redlands home of the couple, who gunned down 14 people and injured 21 others before being shot dead by the police during a hot pursuit.
The search led to seizure of 12 pipe bombs, 2,000 9-millimeter handgun rounds, 2,500 .223-caliber assault rifle rounds and an assortment of tools to rig up additional explosive devices, police said.
Amid fears in some quarters that the couple may have had links to ISIS, President Barack Obama sought to reassure his countrymen that America is safe from any Paris-style attack that the Islamist outfit might be plotting. “It is possible that this (California attack) was terrorist related, but we don’t know,” Obama told a news conference. “But we don’t know why they did it. We don’t know at this point the extent of their plans. We do not know their motivations.”
Focusing specifically on ISIS, he said in a separate interview to CBS: “ISIl will not pose an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses.” “The American people should feel confident that, you know, we are going to be able to defend ourselves and make sure that, you know, we have a good holiday and go about our lives,” he said.