(CNN)ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack outside a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas — and warned of more attacks to come.
In a broadcast on its official radio channel Tuesday, the group said two Al Khilafa soldiers opened fire outside the event in Garland, a Dallas suburb. Al Khilafa is how ISIS refers to its soldiers.
CNN cannot confirm the claim, and ISIS offered no evidence the gunmen were affiliated with the terror organization.
The gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, wounded a security guard before police shot and killed them.
Nadir Soofi, left, and Elton Simpson were the two gunmen in the Garland, Texas, shooting.
Nadir Soofi, left, and Elton Simpson were the two gunmen in the Garland, Texas, shooting.
The ISIS radio announcer also referred to Simpson and Soofi as the terror group’s “brothers.” The announcement ended with this warning:
“We say to the defenders of the cross, the U.S., that future attacks are going to be harsher and worse. The Islamic State soldiers will inflict harm on you with the grace of God. The future is just around the corner.”
ISIS sympathizers or operatives?
While ISIS claimed responsibility two days after the attack, there was no immediate indication that the terror group in Iraq and Syria had contact with Simpson or Soofi, who both lived in Phoenix.
Former FBI agent Tim Clemente said the gunmen may have plotted the attack without direction from ISIS.
“They may not have had formal contact (with ISIS). They may have had email communication or read communications from ISIS, but I don’t think they were directed by ISIS,” Clemente said.
“I think it’s the other way around — they were kind of applying for membership into ISIS. And so they were doing this act, sent out the tweet in advance because if they know there’s a possibility they’re not going to make it out of this, then they can’t give recognition to what they were trying to do after the fact.”
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest described what happened as “an attempted terrorist act (that) was foiled.” U.S. authorities, meanwhile, are still looking into what links — if any — Sunday’s shooters had to international terrorism.
But there are clues that one of the gunmen was an ISIS sympathizer.
CNN