World

California shooters were IS 'followers'

December 5, 2015 5:39 pm

The couple who killed 14 people in California in an attack the FBI is investigating as an “act of terrorism” were followers of Islamic State, the terrorist group has claimed.

The group’s declaration, in an online radio broadcast, came three days after US-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, a native of Pakistan, carried out the attack on a holiday party for civil servants in San Bernardino, about 100 kilometres east of Los Angeles.

The two died hours later in a shootout with police.

Article continues after advertisement

US government sources have said Malik and her husband may have been inspired by Islamic State, but there was no evidence the attack was directed by the militant group or that the organisation even knew who they were.

The party the couple attacked was for workers in the same local government agency that employed Farook.