BEIRUT, June 13 - The Islamic State (IS) group today claimed responsibility for the Orlando shooting that killed 50 people, saying in a radio bulletin that it was carried out by �one of the soldiers of the caliphate�. �God allowed Omar Mateen, one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America, to carry out an attack entering a crusader gathering in a night club... In Orlando in Florida, killing and wounding more than 100 of them,� a bulletin from Al-Bayan radio said.
The jihadist group declared its �caliphate� in Syria and Iraq in 2014.
The IS-linked news agency Amaq said yesterday that the attack on the gay night club had been �carried out by an Islamic State fighter�.
US media reported that the gunman, identified as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen, had pledged allegiance to the jihadist group IS.
The FBI has admitted that Mateen - who was born to Afghan parents in New York - had previously been investigated, but cleared, for ties to a US suicide bomber. � AFP
