CHINA TOPIX

12/22/2024 10:55:11 pm

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San Bernardino Gunner Sent Jihadist Facebook Messages to Friends

Photo of Tashfeen Malik, one of the gunners behind the San Bernardino massacre that slained 14 lives and left 22 wounded

(Photo : Getty Image) Tashfeen Malik allegedly sent two personal messages on her Facebook account to a group of Pakistani friends vouching her loyalty and desire to join the Islamic jihad.

Two federal law enforcement agencies have revealed that Tashfeen Malik, one of the gunners behind the San Bernardino massacre, sent two personal messages in 2012 and 2014 to a small group of Pakistani friends. They claim that she wrote that she is pledging loyalty to the Islamic jihad and desires to participate in the fight soon.

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If detected earlier, this could have given US authorities a substantial clue of Malik's probable danger before she got into the United States via a K-1 fiancee visa in July last year. 

FBI agents are scrutinizing her messages. They are also trying to look at whether possible encouragement, financial support or detailed instructions were provided to Malik and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook before they initiated the attack that claimed 14 lives and left 22 wounded. 

FBI Director James Comey refused to disclose the Facebook message contents. However, he believes that the couple were radicalized separately before they met over the Internet 2 years ago.

The couple Malik and Farook took to Facebook to declare their allegiance to the Islamic State on the day they carried out the shooting at the Inland Regional Center. However, the post was removed later.

The couple was killed 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles during a shootout with authorities hours after the San Bernardino incident. 

Divers searched the area near the couple's lake house, but FBI discovered nothing linked to the crime. Authorities are currently investigating the couple's former neighbor Enrique Marquez, who admitted that he supplied the two semiautomatic riffles Malik and Farook used during the shooting.

In order not to spoil the "opportunity to let him lead investigators to any other persons or to an organization with whom he may be or may have been in contact with in the furtherance of the San Bernardino attack or other planned terrorist attack," no charges were pressed against Marquez, said an official.

Following this incident, State Department representative John Kirby admitted that the respective agency is now reviewing the process of obtaining and granting of K-1 visa, which is usually issued within 48 hours. 

"If a consular officer...feels like it would be valuable or necessary to look at the social media presence of an individual, they can and do conduct those reviews," Kirby said. 

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