First IS attack on US soil: Two militants shot dead

UNITED STATES/ GARLAND:

The attack, later claimed by the Islamic State, is the first staged by the group on US soil. An FBI official told US media that one of the attackers had been previously investigated as an alleged would-be militant.

ABC News, citing an FBI official, said that agents had raided an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona thought to belong to Elton Simpson, allegedly one of the slain gunmen. Court documents seen by AFP show Simpson was sentenced to three years probation in 2011 for lying to federal agents investigating him on suspicion of planning to travel to Somalia to fight with militants.

The second gunman was Simpson’s room-mate Nadir Soofi, 34, The Washington Post cited police as saying.

Minutes before the attack one of the men, tweeting under a nom du guerre, appeared to pledge allegiance to lS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Twitter, and messages of support were posted by IS followers.

The White House said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the investigation, which Texas police said was ongoing. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2015.