Orlando killer had no link to ISIS: CIA chief

Investigation by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies concluded that Mateen was a ‘lone wolf.’

WASHINGTON: CIA chief John Brennan has told the Senate intelligence committee that his agency found no evidence of a connection between Omar Mateen and the militant Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) group.

Mateen, who killed 49 people when he raided a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, stated allegiance to the militant group minutes before the attack.

Brennan told the lawmakers that four days of investigation by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies concluded that Mateen was a “lone wolf.”

The FBI also has determined that Mateen was not directed by or in contact with IS before the Orlando attack. In Facebook posts from inside the club and a 911 call during the attack, Mateen reportedly declared his allegiance to the group. But investigators are now focusing more on his apparently complicated relationship with his sexuality.

The CIA chief, however, said that recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, were “directed” by ISIS leadership in Syria and Iraq. He warned ISIS could rely on as many as 38,000 men, mostly combatants, across Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sinai, Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan.