Something Doesn't Quite Add Up With ISIS Claim Of Las Vegas Shooting
The FBI said there is no proof the attack was linked to an global terrorist group.
It says "after careful control and care of the crusades in the city of Las Vegas, one of the soldiers of the caliphate", who they referred to as "Abu Abdul Bar of the United States", had been placed in a "hotel overlooking a musical ceremony" where he murdered those attending the country music festival.
However, FBI said that the Las Vegas Shooter had no connection to ISIS or any terrorist group. ISIS did not provide any evidence for this claim but added that the gunman converted to Islam before killing at least 59 people on Sunday in Las Vegas. The group later released Spanish language versions of these statements.
"Even the weapons he used in this assault were purchased with Islamic State funds", al-Maqdisi claimed, without offering any proof and despite Paddock's reportedly being financially fluid enough to have purchased the weapons himself.
Police have identified the shooter as Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, and have said he killed himself after the shooting. The U.S. authorities have not given any information about his religious background.
Paddock's apparent suicide also conflicts with jihadi ideals of "martyrdom", which normally sees Isis-inspired attackers kill themselves in suicide bombings or by forcing security forces to shoot them dead. At least 500 people were injured in the shooting. The group also claimed a knife attack on Sunday that killed two women in Marseille, France, but French authorities say they have found no link between the attacker and ISIS.
According to Bloomberg, the last historical mass shooting in the US before the tragic event that took place on Sunday, happened at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016.
However, when Isis claimed the attack on a casino in the Philippines that killed dozens of people, it was later left embarrassed when police later identified the attacker as a Filipino gambling addict who was US$80,000 in debt, saying it was a botched robbery that was not terrorism-related.
An intercepted ISIS communication from October 2 claims credit for the shooting in Las Vegas on October 1.