Man Charged Over US Prophet Cartoon Attack

The FBI says Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem was the man who got the guns used in the garland shooting and helped train the shooters.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

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A man has been charged with allegedly helping to plan an attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony.

Prosecutors say Kareem, 43, hosted Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson at his home in Phoenix in January and provided the weapons used in the 3 May shooting.

Soofi and Simpson were killed by police after they opened fire outside the Curtis Culwell Center in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

The pair had driven from Phoenix, where they shared an apartment, to carry out the attack.

A security guard was also injured in the shooting.

Kareem practiced shooting with the gunmen in a desert outside Phoenix in the months leading up to the attack, according to court papers.

He also discussed plans for the shooting while hosting both men at his home, the indictment said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in an audio message that said "two soldiers of the caliphate" had targeted the event.

US officials have not said whether the extremist group had any role.

Court documents show that Simpson had been under federal surveillance since 2006 and was convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents about his desire to join violent jihad in Somalia.

Soofi had struggled to adjust to life in the US after moving there as a schoolboy from Pakistan, according to reports.

Kareem, who is also known as Decarus Thomas, is due to appear in federal court later on Tuesday.

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