US probes ISIL link to Texas shooting

People offer prayers for two people who were killed by police in Texas, as they hold a special service at a public park in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. About 50 Islamists held the special service Tuesday in northwest Pakistan for the two men killed in the U.S. after they opened fire at a cartoon contest featuring images of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. AP Photo

US investigators probed the background of two slain gunmen May 5 after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed it had ordered an attack targeting an exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
 
The White House said it was too soon to tell if the jihadist group was behind the failed attack, in which two gunmen were shot dead by a police officer before they could storm the event.
 
The case "is still under investigation by the FBI and other members of the intelligence community" to determine if the two assailants had any ties to ISIL, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
 
"So it's too early to say at this point."  

ISIL claim marked the first time the extremist group, which has captured swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq using brutal methods, alleged to have carried out an attack in the United States.
 
"Two of the soldiers of the caliphate executed an attack on an art exhibit in Garland, Texas, and this exhibit was portraying negative pictures of the Prophet Mohammed," the jihadist group said.
 
But Earnest said ISIL jihadists and other extremists are often "trying to capitalize on the opportunity that's presented by social media to try to communicate with individuals around the world, including inside the United States."  

US Senator John McCain, who is often critical of White House security policy and has warned of the jihadist threat, also cautioned that the claim should not be taken at face value.    

"There's no doubt that these young people were most likely inspired by ISIS [ISIL]," he told reporters, adding: "... there's a difference between carrying out an ISIS [ISIL] order and being inspired by ISIS [ISIL]."  
Police said the two gunmen...

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