Police officers guard the area around the Autumn Ridge apartment complex
IN PHOTO: Police officers guard the area around the Autumn Ridge apartment complex which had been searched by investigators in Phoenix, Arizona May 4, 2015. Texas police shot dead two gunmen who opened fire on Sunday outside an exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that was organized by a group described as anti-Islamic and billed as a free-speech event. Citing a senior FBI official, ABC News identified one of the gunmen as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was the target of a terror investigation. REUTERS/Nancy Wiechec

U.S. authorities have discovered that Elton Simpson who had been under the FBI radar since 2006, was convicted in 2010 and was responsible for trying to attack Prophet Muhammad’s event in Texas, had been in personal touch with Jenaid Hussein, a British national with links to the ISIS. Besides him, he was also in contact with other notorious terrorists like Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan who is connected with al Qaeda’s affiliate al Shabaab in Somalia.

The FBI has confirmed that Simpson had exchanged notes on social media with the two dreaded militants. Simpson had alluded to an attack on twitter. But FBI director James Comey stated that the probe agency had no clues that the Garland, Texas shooting was planned.

Only hours before the assault on the exhibit was attempted Hussein had tweeted an intimidating message to his followers. He posted, "The knifes have been sharpened, soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter."

The FBI had issued a warning to the Garland cops in Texas about Simpson's interest in the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoon event. This warning was given hours before Simpson and Soofi actually commenced the attack, according to James Comey, the Director of the apex investigating agency.

The FBI director also stated that the attempted attack illuminated the danger of domestic terrorism. It portrayed that extremists can acquire savoir faire from overseas militants through social media. "The siren song sits in the pockets, on the mobile phones, of the people who are followers on Twitter. It's almost as if there's a devil sitting on the shoulder, saying, `Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!' all day long," Mr Comey said.

Elton Simpson and his accomplice Nadir Soofi had driven their car into the car park of the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland. American Freedom Defense Initiative or the AFDI had organized an event there. The event was an exhibit on Prophet Muhammad. It comprised of a competition that offered 10,000 US dollars as prize money for a cartoon of the Prophet. In the ensuing battle that followed a security guard was injured and Simpson and Soofi were fatally shot at before they died.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com

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