California shooting: San Bernardino massacre was 'act of terrorism' - FBI

Carnage: the couple's SUV after the police chase in San Bernardino
EPA
Tom Marshall4 December 2015

The mass shooting at a Christmas party carried out by a heavily-armed husband and wife in California is officially being treated as a terrorist attack.

The FBI has confirmed that the massacre is being investigated as an "act of terrorism" for the first time.

It comes after officials confirmed that the woman, Tashfeen Malik, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and its leader on Facebook using an alias.

Fourteen people were killed at a centre for disabled people in the Southern California city of San Bernardino when the couple - who had a six-month-old daughter - opened fire on Wednesday.

Gunman: Syed Farook
California Department of Motor Vehicles via AP

Malik's husband, Syed Farook, 28, worked at the centre. The pair died in a gun battle with police later that day.

David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said: "Based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism."

He said they had engaged in extensive planning before the massacre and that investigators were probing whether the pair were planning more attacks.

Farook had attended the Christmas party at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday morning but slipped out before returing with his wife.

Rescue crews tend to the injured
Reuters

Both wore combat gear and were armed with assault rifles.

They sprayed as many as 75 rounds at the facility before fleeing in a black SUV.

They had 1,600 rounds of ammo left and police found 12 pipe bombs at their home, tools to make explosives and another 4,500 bullets.

The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60. Among the 21 injured were two police officers hurt during the manhunt. Two of the wounded remained in a critical condition on Thursday.

Malik, 27, was a Pakistani who grew up in Saudi Arabia and went to the US in 2014 to marry Farook.

The 28-year-old restaurant health inspector was born in Chicago to Pakistani parents and raised in California. He had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media.

The soft-spoken Farook was known to pray every day at San Bernardino's Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah mosque.

The last time a friend, Rahemaan Ali, saw him was three weeks ago, when Farook stopped coming to pray. Rahemaan Ali said Farook seemed happy and his usual self.

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