Terror returns to US with gay club massacre
15 Jun 2016 4:33 AM IST
The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed it was behind Sunday’s carnage at the Pulse nightclub, the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
It said in a radio bulletin on Monday that the attack on the “crusader gathering” was carried out by “one of the soldiers of the caliphate”.
World leaders joined in condemning the murderous assault, which triggered grief and shock but also defiance in the gay and lesbian community as monuments from New York to Paris were being lit up in memory of the victims.
Terrified survivors described how the gunman raked clubgoers with bullets, prompting a police SWAT team to storm the venue and shoot dead the attacker, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen. The FBI admitted that Mateen had previously been investigated - but cleared - for ties to a US suicide bomber.
Special Agent Ronald Hopper also said Mateen was reported to have made a 911 call pledging allegiance to IS shortly before the massacre. “We know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” US President Barack Obama said.
The Orlando assault is being treated as the worst act of terror on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda. Monday’s claim on Al-Bayan radio followed a report by the IS-linked news agency Amaq on Sunday that the attack had been “carried out by an Islamic fighter”.
Mateen was born to Afghan parents in New York in 1986 and lived in Port St Lucie, Florida, about a two-hour drive from Orlando.
His father Mir Seddique told NBC News his son may have been motivated by homophobia, insisting: “This had nothing to do with religion.”
The suspect’s ex-wife, who divorced him in 2011, told reporters he had been violently abusive to her but was not especially religious. But Hopper told reporters Mateen’s behavior had raised red flags well before Sunday’s attack. In 2013 he was probed by the bureau after making inflammatory comments to co-workers that suggested terrorist ties.
In 2014 he was again questioned by agents investigating his contacts with Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a fellow Floridian. Abusalha became notorious as the first US citizen to carry out a suicide bombing in Syria, and was reportedly a member of an Al-Qaeda affiliate.
“We determined the contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or a threat at that time,” Hopper said. The Orlando atrocity came at the height of what is already a heated US presidential election campaign. Democratic flag-bearer Hillary Clinton postponed a campaign rally with Obama and tweeted that her “thoughts are with those affected by this horrific act.” Her Republican rival Donald Trump lost no time in claiming the attack proved he was right to promise a
ban on Muslims entering the US.
Eiffel Tower to don rainbow colours after Orlando killings
The Eiffel Tower will be lit up tonight in the rainbow colours of the gay community in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando shootings, Paris city hall said. “Paris is with Orlando. Tonight, the Eiffel Tower will be illuminated in LGBT colours in homage to the victims,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted.
City hall will also fly the US flag, the Stars and Stripes, as well as the rainbow flag, Hidalgo said, expressing her “compassion, solidarity and affection” for the American people after the massacre.
On Monday morning, Paris councillors observed a minute of silence for the victims of the nightclub attack, in which 50 people were killed. The French football team also tweeted a message of
support, along with a picture of a ribbon combining the colours of the US and rainbow flags.
Deadly scars left
Shocked over shooting: Mukherjee
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday condemned the worst mass shooting incident in the US and said India condemns terror in “all its forms and manifestations”. In a condolence message to President Barack Obama, Mukherjee, who is here in Ghanaian capital on the first-leg of his six-day visit to three African nations, said the attack was yet another “grim reminder” that the world must come together to address, comprehensively and urgently, the scourge of terrorism, its perpetrators and also those who support or harbour them.
Pope hits out at ‘brazen’ free circulation of arms
Rome: Pope Francis on Monday hit out at the “brazen” free circulation of arms worldwide, a day after the Orlando shooting incident. The pontiff contrasted the ease of obtaining lethal weapons with the bureaucratic obstacles often encountered by organisations trying to deliver humanitarian aid.
“Whereas forms of aid and development projects are obstructed by involved and comprehensible political decisions, skewed ideological visions and impenetrable customs barriers, weaponry is not,” Francis said.
Cameron condemns the shooting
London: British PM David Cameron has condemned the shooting incident at a night club in the US that killed 50 people, saying he is “horrified” by the attack. Cameron joined other world leaders to express his solidarity with the people of Florida following the worst mass shooting incident in the US history.
Next Story
