Father of San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik condemns his daughter's attack and says he is 'in such pain I cannot describe it'

  • Gulzar Ahmad Malik, father of Tashfeen Malik, has spoken out today
  • Said he was 'very, very sad' in the wake of his daughter's attacks last week
  • He condemned act of terror she perpetrated with husband Syed Farook 
  • Pair killed 14 people in deadliest terror attack on the U.S. since 9/11
  • Wounded another 21 before dying in a hail of police bullets hours later 

If US officials had seen Tashfeen Malik's social media accounts, they wouldn't have approved her visa

Gulzar Ahmad Malik, the father of terror attacker Tashfeen Malik (pictured), spoke of his pain today after his daughter shot 14 people dead last week

The father of San Bernardino terror attacker Tashfeen Malik has said he condemns and regrets her actions which saw 14 people shot dead last week.

Malik, who was born in Pakistan but raised in Saudi Arabia, carried out the atrocity with husband Syed Rizwan Farook during a holiday party for Department of Health workers on December 2.

After opening fire at the Inland Regional Center, California, Malik and Farook went on the run before being shot dead in a hail of bullets by police several hours later.

Gulzar Ahmad Malik, Tashfeen's father, spoke to journalists from Saudi Arabia today saying that he is 'very, very sad' in the wake of the attacks. 

'I am in such pain that I cannot even describe it,' he added. 

Since the shootings FBI agents have been trying to ascertain Tashfeen's motive, and have dubbed the attack an 'act of terror'.

Quizzed on Malik's motives, Gulzar said: 'Whatever God does only he knows better, and only God knows why did it happen.'

He said that he had spoken to the Saudi intelligence services about his daughter, but would not comment on what they asked him or what he said.

Malik has been a resident in Saudi since the early 1980s, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. A Pakistani counterterrorism official added that the father works as an engineer, as do his two sons.

According to American intelligence services, Malik was radicalized by late 2013 when she began discussing jihad and martyrdom online.

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Malik attacked the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on December 2 along with husband Syed Rizwan Farook (pictured together entering the US) in the deadliest terror attack on the U.S. since 9/11

Malik attacked the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on December 2 along with husband Syed Rizwan Farook (pictured together entering the US) in the deadliest terror attack on the U.S. since 9/11

Her future husband, Farook, also became radicalized around this time - though this was before the couple met via the internet, dating for a short time before getting married in 2014.

Today, Lindsey Graham asked FBI director James Comey whether it was possible that the two radicals were brought together by a terror organization with the aim of attacking America.

Comey responded that he 'didn't know' the answer to that question, but added that it was a 'very, very important thing to know.' 

Other members of Malik's family have said she was raised in a westernized culture in Pakistan, but became more conservative after going to Saudi Arabia, which enforces sharia law.

The family members added that the first alarm bells began ringing when she returned to Pakistan in 2009 to go to university, and started posting extreme religious messages on Facebook.

They said she also took to wearing a full-body veil, with only her eyes visible, and asked that all pictures showing her face be removed from university files.

Meanwhile Farook's family have repeatedly stated that they are 'shocked' at the shooting, and say they had no evidence he held radical views before last week.

FBI Director James Comey today said that Malik and Farook had been radicalized towards the end of 2015 when she began talking about jihad online, but before they met one another

FBI Director James Comey today said that Malik and Farook had been radicalized towards the end of 2015 when she began talking about jihad online, but before they met one another

Friends of Farook, who attended Mosque with him, agreed - saying he even spoke about ISIS within them an condemned the attack on the Russian jet liner in early November. 

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

During the attack, both Malik and Farook posted messages on Facebook pledging their support to ISIS, and the group has since claimed responsibility in a radio message.

However, that response is unusually slow for the jihadist group, who usually release video within hours of an attack to praise the 'lions of the caliphate' for an attack.

That has raised suspicions among security circles that the jihadists did not know of Malik and Farook's plans, and only claimed responsibility after they pledged allegiance.