WASHINGTON: As investigators study extra in regards to the man who pledged allegiance to Islamic State and killed 14 people with a truck on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, a key query stays: How did a veteran and one-time worker of a significant company turn out to be radicalised?
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia stated on Thursday (Jan 2) that movies made by Shamsud-Din Jabbar simply earlier than the assault confirmed the 42-year-old Texas native supported Islamic State, claimed to have joined the militant group earlier than final summer season and believed in a “conflict between the believers and nonbelievers”.
Whereas the FBI was trying into his “path to radicalisation,” proof collected because the assault confirmed that Jabbar was “100 per cent impressed by ISIS”, stated Raia, utilizing an acronym for Islamic State.
Jabbar, who authorities said acted alone, was killed in a shootout with police.
His half-brother, Abdur Jabbar, stated in an interview that Jabbar, who had labored for audit agency Deloitte, deserted Islam in his 20s or 30s, however had just lately renewed his religion.
Abdur Jabbar advised Reuters in Beaumont, Texas, the place Jabbar was born and raised, that he had no thought when his half-brother grew to become radicalised.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who investigated terrorism circumstances and is on an advisory council to Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, stated Jabbar didn’t match the standard profile of these radicalised by Islamic State.
Jabbar served for 10 years within the US Military and was in his 40s, Soufan famous, explaining that individuals who fall prey to Islamic State recruitment are usually a lot youthful.
“It is a man who … went from being a patriot to being an ISIS terrorist,” stated Soufan.
Attackers chargeable for a spread of lethal strikes have claimed a hyperlink to Islamic State and different jihadist teams.
They included the lone survivor of the Islamist squad that killed 130 folks throughout Paris in 2015, the person who killed 49 folks at a homosexual nightclub in Florida in 2016, and the person who drove a truck right into a crowded bike path in 2017 in New York Metropolis, killing eight folks.
Some assaults, like these in 2015 in Paris, have been carried out by educated Islamic State operatives. However investigators discovered no proof of a direct function for the terrorist group in others.