ISIL claims responsibility for Texas cartoon attack

CAIRO // ISIL claimed responsibility on Tuesday for an attack at a Texas exhibit of cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed – though it offered no evidence of a direct link to the attackers.

An audio statement on the extremist group’s Al Bayan radio station said that “two soldiers of the caliphate” carried out Sunday’s attack. It promised to deliver more attacks in the future.

The group did not provide details and it was unclear whether the group was opportunistically claiming the attack as its own.

It was the first time ISIL, which frequently calls for attacks against the West, had claimed responsibility for one in the United States.

The two gunmen in Sunday’s attack in the Dallas suburb of Garland were shot dead after opening fire at a security guard outside the centre.

It was also unclear from the statement whether the group, which has captured large areas in Syria and Iraq, had an actual hand in the operation, or whether the two suspects had pledged allegiance to the group and then carried out the attack on their own.

US government sources close to the case have said investigators were scouring electronic communications sent and received by the dead gunmen, roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, of Phoenix, for evidence of contacts between them and militant groups overseas, most notably ISIL.

Simpson and Soofi were killed by police when they opened fire with assault rifles at the cartoon exhibit and contest. An unarmed security guard was wounded.

Court documents showed Simpson had been under federal surveillance since 2006 and was convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents about his desire to join violent extremists in Somalia.

According to Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of the Prophet Mohammed and others prophets, including Jesus and Moses is considered blasphemous. Drawings similar to those featured at the Texas event have sparked violence around the world.

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed but it was read on the Al Bayan radio – a station based in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which the group has proclaimed the capital of its self-styled caliphate.

Following the ISIL claim of responsibility, its members and followers celebrated online with postings on ISIL-affiliated militant websites.

* Associated Press, Reuters