May 18 2020 rbbm.
FBI: US naval base attack 'motivated by Al-Qaeda'
''A Saudi Air Force officer who went on a deadly gun rampage at a US naval base in December 2019 worked with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to plan the attack, US officials say.
The gunman's phone revealed the terror link, the FBI and Department of Justice said.
The attack in Pensacola, Florida killed three US sailors and injured eight.
Prosecutors criticised Apple for refusing to unlock the gunman's phones, which authorities took months to hack.
The attack led to the expulsion of 21 Saudi military pupils who had been studying at the base with the attacker.
According to the FBI, the gunman, who was killed by authorities after shooting 11 people, had been radicalised before arriving Florida for a three-year aviation course the US navy hosts for allied foreign servicemen.
Records revealed that he had been in active contact with AQAP, an off-shoot of al-Qaeda based in Yemen, up to the shooting, including talking about plans to carry out a "special operation" for them.''
He was radicalised in 2015, officials said, and his communications with the terror group "continued right up until the end, the very night before he started shooting".
''The expelled Saudi students were found to have had jihadist material and indecent images of children in their possession, investigators have said, but none were accused of aiding the killer.''
FBI: US naval base attack 'motivated by Al-Qaeda'
''A Saudi Air Force officer who went on a deadly gun rampage at a US naval base in December 2019 worked with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to plan the attack, US officials say.
The gunman's phone revealed the terror link, the FBI and Department of Justice said.
The attack in Pensacola, Florida killed three US sailors and injured eight.
Prosecutors criticised Apple for refusing to unlock the gunman's phones, which authorities took months to hack.
The attack led to the expulsion of 21 Saudi military pupils who had been studying at the base with the attacker.
According to the FBI, the gunman, who was killed by authorities after shooting 11 people, had been radicalised before arriving Florida for a three-year aviation course the US navy hosts for allied foreign servicemen.
Records revealed that he had been in active contact with AQAP, an off-shoot of al-Qaeda based in Yemen, up to the shooting, including talking about plans to carry out a "special operation" for them.''
He was radicalised in 2015, officials said, and his communications with the terror group "continued right up until the end, the very night before he started shooting".
''The expelled Saudi students were found to have had jihadist material and indecent images of children in their possession, investigators have said, but none were accused of aiding the killer.''