{"id":113796,"date":"2015-05-04T16:41:16","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T16:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=113796"},"modified":"2015-05-04T16:41:16","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T16:41:16","slug":"us-raid-after-prophet-cartoon-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/us-raid-after-prophet-cartoon-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"US raid after Prophet cartoon attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

US police are searching the home of suspected gunmen who attacked a conference on cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Dallas, officials say.<\/p>\n

An FBI official said agents were collecting evidence at an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n

One suspect was identified as Elton Simpson, who had been previously investigated on suspicion of terrorism offences, US media reported.<\/p>\n

Two gunmen were shot dead after opening fire outside the contest on Sunday.<\/p>\n

They drove to the Muhammad Art Exhibit in the Dallas suburb of Garland as the event was ending, shooting at and wounding a security officer before being killed by police.<\/p>\n

Sunday evening’s event was organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which is run by controversial blogger and activist Pamela Geller.<\/p>\n

One of the keynote speakers was the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an outspoken critic of Islam in Western societies.<\/p>\n

The conference included a contest that offered a $10,000 (\u00a36,600) prize for a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are offensive to many Muslims.<\/p>\n

Officials believe that Simpson sent several Twitter messages before the Sunday’s shooting, including one with the hashtag #texasattack part of which read: “May Allah accept us as mujahideen” [holy fighters]. The Twitter account was later suspended.<\/p>\n

Simpson was reportedly convicted several years ago for lying to authorities about his plans to travel to Africa.<\/p>\n

\"Police
About 200 people attended the event – they were briefed by police after the shooting<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Geert
Geert Wilders released a photo of himself with police in SWAT gear which he said was taken just before the attack<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bomb squad was called in to search the vehicle that the suspected gunmen arrived in. A vehicle was blown up as a precaution overnight, local TV station WFAA reported.<\/p>\n

The suspects’ bodies remained at the scene on Monday morning, surrounded by dozens of empty shell casings.<\/p>\n

Security had been tight ahead of Sunday’s conference and Garland’s mayor acknowledged that there had been a lot of local concern about the event, though police said there had been no credible threats.<\/p>\n

Ms Geller said she was standing up for free speech, adding: “This terrible incident reflects the need for such conferences.”<\/p>\n

“We are continually abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages,” she said. She denied she was anti-Muslim, only “anti-jihad”.<\/p>\n

There were widespread protests in 2006 when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n

In January this year, 12 people were murdered by two Islamist gunmen at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had published similar cartoons.<\/p>\n

And a gathering of free speech activists in the Danish capital Copenhagen was targeted by a gunman in February, killing a film director.<\/p>\n

Pamela Geller: America’s controversial blogger<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A staunch critic of Islam since 2005, she rose to prominence in 2010 through her online opposition to Park 51, a planned Muslim community centre in Lower Manhattan close to the World Trade Center site<\/li>\n
  • Heads the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which has also caused controversy by buying advertising space on buses in US cities, criticising Islam<\/li>\n
  • The 56-year-old describes herself online as a free-speech activist, but her critics denounce her as a “bigot”<\/li>\n
  • She insists the focus of her criticism is chiefly against radical Islam, but has been quoted as saying that “Islam is the most anti-semitic, genocidal ideology in the world”<\/li>\n
  • Speaking of her role in organising the Muhammad Art Exhibit in Garland, she said: “We draw Muhammad because we are free… We draw Muhammad because our unalienable rights are enshrined in the First Amendment.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    –<\/p>\n

    Source: BBC<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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