Match made in hell? FBI investigates whether terror group arranged the marriage of San Bernardino shooter couple 

  • Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik are believed to have met online in 2014
  • Malik moved to U.S. in July that year, before getting married a month later
  • It was previously thought that Malik was radicalized overseas, before coming to this county and instilling her ideology in Farook
  • FBI Director James Comey rubbished that theory today, saying both partners talked about jihad in late 2013, before they met each other
  • Senator Lindsey Graham asked Comey whether the new information meant it was possible the pair were brought together by a terrorist group
  • Comey said he 'didn't know' but added it was 'very important' information 
  • For more on the California shootings visit www.dailymail.co.uk/california

The FBI is investigating whether the marriage between San Bernardino killers Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik was set up by a terror group such as ISIS.

Senator Lindsey Graham raised the possibility that the pair could have been brought together by terrorists in Congress today, after it was revealed they were radicalized before they started dating.

When Graham put the prospect to FBI Director James Comey, he said: 'I don't know the answer to that yet,' but added that it is 'a very, very important thing to know'. 

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Tashfeen Malik and husband Syed Farook went through customs at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in July 2014. They killed 14 and wounded 21 people in the December 2 mass shooting 

Farook and Malik pass through U.S. customs at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago in July 2014. The two were married a month later

Police have previously said that Farook and his wife and fellow shooter Tashfeen Malik purchased the two handguns

Deadly: Above, the two semi-automatic rifles and handguns used in the December 2 shooting which killed 14 and injured more than 20  

It was previously believed that Malik, from Pakistan, had become radicalized long before her husband, perhaps dating back to her time at university in 2009 when family members say she became much more conservative and started wearing a full-body veil.

Malik was then thought to have sought out American-born Farook online, before moving to the U.S. on a fiancee visa and passing her murderous ideology on to him.

However, Comey today revised that narrative, telling a Senate Judiciary Committee that the pair began discussing jihad and martyrdom in late 2013, before they began their relationship.

Comey added that his agency believes the pair were inspired by foreign terror organizations, but is still investigating which group they were affiliated with.

The pair professed their loyalty to ISIS during their December 2 attack on the Inland Regional Center in California which killed 14 and injured another 21. 

But Comey raised doubt over whether ISIS was behind the pair's initial obsession with jihad, as it had yet to rise to prominence in 2013 when they began discussing the subject online.

It is also still unclear whether either partner had contact with a terrorist organization, or whether they simply viewed radical material via the internet. 

Fox News has speculated today that while those close to Farook and Malik claim they met on traditional dating websites, it is more likely that they met elsewhere - possibly in jihadi forums.

While Farook had several prominent dating profiles on sites such as Dubaimatrimonial.com, BestMuslim.com and iMilap.com, Malik does not appear as a member on any of these.

Fox reports that, according to experts, this means it is unlikely that the pair met 'innocently' - and may have bonded over their shared interest in terror. 

The revelation that the husband-and-wife shooters had become radicalized before Malik came to America also raises questions about how the government's vetting process failed to turn up evidence of their extremist beliefs.

Malik moved from Pakistan to the U.S. on a fiancée visa in July 2014 and married Farook the following month.

Malik was born in Pakistan, but also spent a good deal of her childhood living in Saudi Arabia, where her father worked. 

Farook was born in Chicago to Pakisatani immigrant parents.

According to CNN, via officials did not probe Malik's links to terrorist ideology when she took part in a visa interview in Pakistan in 2014.

According to the news channel, a senior State Department official confirmed that Malik was mostly quizzed on her relationship to Farook, to check the partnership was genuine.

FBI Director James Comey, pictured on Wednesday, said the agency is still investigating what ties the couple may have had to terrorist organizations

FBI Director James Comey, pictured on Wednesday, said the agency is still investigating what ties the couple may have had to terrorist organizations

Because she was able to answer enough questions about Farook, her application failed to raise a red flag in their system.

Malik also passed two other security database checks before her visa was adjudicated 24 hours after she met with officials in May.

Today it also emerged that Farook could have been planning another massacre at a California school alongside neighbor Enrique Marquez. 

Following his deadly attack, investigators reportedly found multiple photos on Farook's cell phone depicting Carter High School in the city of Rialto.

Working as an environmental health inspector for San Bernardino County for five years, Farook had repeatedly visited Carter and other schools in the area. 

According to education officials, it is usual for inspectors to take pictures of food preparation and service areas - but highly irregular for them to take images of the exterior buildings.

Marquez reportedly told investigators that he and Farook had been planning an attack in 2012 in California, but did not name a target.

In the end they scrapped their plans following unrelated FBI arrests of four people accused of trying to travel abroad to take part in jihad, US officials told CNN.

Marquez was questioned by authorities following the San Bernardino shootings after it was reveled he bought the assault weapons used in the killings. 

 

 

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