US: Ohio attacker had ‘no direct links’ to terror group

WASHINGTON: The Somali student who plowed his car into a crowd and slashed several people with a knife in Ohio had no known ties to terror groups, US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Wednesday.

But authorities said they believe Abdul Razak Ali Artan may have been inspired to carry out Monday’s attack at Ohio State University by the Islamic State jihadist group and slain US-born al- Qaeda recruiter Anwar alAwlaki.

Although Artan professed support for radical Islamists on his Facebook page and an ISlinked news agency claimed he was an IS ‘soldier’, Johnson said the probe had not revealed any direct communications between Artan and such groups.

“At this point we see no direct links to any terrorist organisation,” Johnson said.

“The indications are right now that this was an act of someone who was self-radicalised.”

On Monday, the Somali immigrant, a new student on the massive campus in Ohio’s state capital Columbus, injured 11 people before he was shot dead by a university security officer.

Officials have not declared the attack a terror attack, but on Tuesday, the IS-linked news agency Amaq said the rampage was inspired by IS calls to action.

“He carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of international coalition countries,” Amaq quoted an insider source as saying, according to a translation by the SITE group that monitors extremists.

A Facebook page believed to belong to Artan — and since taken offline — included grievances against the US. — AFP