The Islamic State militant group is claiming
responsibility for Sunday's attack on a
convention center outside Dallas, Texas, where a
contest for cartoons depicting Islam's Prophet
Muhammad was taking place.
There was no immediate comment from U.S.
officials on the Islamic State claim.
The extremist group made the announcement
Tuesday on its radio station, saying "two of the
soldiers of the caliphate" carried out Sunday's
attack on a free speech event in the town of
Garland.
"We tell America that what is coming will be
even bigger and more bitter," the Islamic State
group said in its statement, the first time it had
claimed responsibility for an attack on U.S. soil.
IS link unknown
It was unclear whether the group had an actual
hand in planning the operation, or whether the
two suspects had pledged allegiance to the
group and carried out the attack on their own.
Police have identified the assailants in the attack
as Elton Simpson, 31, and Nadir Soofi, 34, who
shared an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona. The
pair opened fire on the conference center,
wounding a security guard, before they were shot
and killed by a Garland police officer.
Court documents show that Simpson had been
under surveillance since 2006 and convicted in
2010 of lying to FBI agents over his desire to
join violent jihad in Somalia.
FBI agents and police searched the two men's
home in Phoenix, cordoning off the apartment
complex and evacuating residents for several
hours.
Simpson's father, Dunston, told ABC News his
son was "always a good kid" but said they had
"some very serious differences."
Dunston Simpson said in the interview that his
son, who he said worked in a dentist's office,
simply "made a bad choice."
"We are Americans and we believe in America,"
Dunston Simpson said. "What my son did
reflects very badly on my family."
Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland, Texas,
police department said that while the motivation
for the attack remains unknown, "obviously they
were there to shoot people." Police found
ammunition and luggage in the attackers' car,
but no bombs despite initial suspicions.
An organization called the American Freedom
Defense Initiative, also known as Stop the
Islamization of America. sponsored the event,
which offered a $10,000 prize for the winner.
Artist Bosch Fawstin, a New York native born to
Albanian Muslim immigrants, won for a depiction
of a sword-wielding prophet in a turban
shouting, "You can't draw me."
'Freedom of speech'
AFDI executive director Pamela Geller told CNN
the event was "about freedom of speech." The
group's website said more than 350 cartoons
were submitted to "show that Americans will not
be cowed by violent Islamist intimidation."
A bomb squad, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, a SWAT team and the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had
been involved in preparations for security around
the event for months, Garland police said. The
group reportedly paid $10,000 for the extra
protection.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which
maintains data on hate groups throughout the
United States, calls AFDI an "anti-Muslim
extremist" organization.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders, a critic of Islam
who said last week the United States should ban
Muslim immigrants, was the keynote speaker at
Sunday's event. He mentioned on Twitter the
shots being fired and said he left the building
after his address.
Many Muslims find depictions of the Prophet
Muhammad to be insulting to Islam. The issue
has sparked tensions with those who see the
drawings as a free speech issue.
In January, two gunmen attacked the French
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had
featured multiple cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad, killing 12 staff members.

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