Orlando shooter claimed links to ISIS & Al-Nusra

Orlando shooter claimed links to ISIS & Al-Nusra

Al-Bab Report

Orlando mass shooter Omar Mateen claimed allegiance to Islamist terror groups and cited the Boston Marathon bombers as his inspiration, according to the FBI. The attacker had been probed twice for making similar comments and having suspected terror links.

Over the course of two phone calls, in which he called 911 and was then called back during Sunday’s massacre, Mateen pledged loyalty to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and a rival Islamist group called Al-Nusra Front. He also paid tribute to the Tsarnaev brothers, the “lone wolves” responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, FBI director James Comey revealed during a Monday press conference in Washington, DC.

“During the calls, he said he was doing this for the leader of ISIL, who he named and pledged loyalty to. But he also appeared to claim solidarity with the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing and solidarity with a Florida man who died as a suicide bomber in Syria for Al-Nusra Front, a group in conflict with the so-called Islamic State,” Comey said. “The bombers at the Boston Marathon and suicide bomber from Florida were not inspired by ISIL, which adds a little bit to the confusion about his motives.”

However, the FBI says there was “no indication” that the 29-year-old had been aided by anyone from Islamic State in his preparations for the shooting in which 49 people were killed, or that he had been in contact with members of any existing terrorist groups.