San Bernardino gun attack couple were 'radicalised at least two years ago', FBI chief says

The couple who killed 14 people in the gun attack in San Bernardino were allegedly radicalised at least two years ago, the FBI has claimed.

Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik were also said to have discussed jihad and martyrdom as early as 2013 before Malik came to the US on a fiancée visa.

A week after the attack, the FBI believes that Farook and his wife embraced radical Islamic ideology even before they had begun their online relationship and that Malik held extremist views before she arrived in America.

Investigators are also probing whether Farook was planning an attack in 2012 but abandoned his plans, according to sources.

The FBI believe the pair were inspired by Islamic State ideology but agents are still looking for other motivations and sources of radicalisation as the couple’s interest in extremism predates the group’s prominence.

FBI director James Comey said: “Isil inspiration may well have been part of this, but these two killers were staring to radicalise towards martyrdom and jihad as early as 2013.

“And so that's really before Isil became the global jihad leader that it is.”

The latest information from the FBI also suggests the US government's vetting process failed to detect Malik's radicalisation when she applied for the visa.

But Mr Comey said he did not know enough to say whether weaknesses in the visa process enabled her to enter the US.

Malik came to the United States in July 2014 from Pakistan after being approved for a K-1, or fiancee visa, and married Farook the following month.

Homeland security secretary Jeh Johnson has said the Obama administration is now reviewing the programme but did not say what changes were being considered.

Mr Comey said the couple were an example of homegrown violent extremists who appear to have radicalised "in place".

He added the FBI did not yet know if the marriage was arranged by a foreign terrorist organisation.

A US official said on Tuesday that authorities were looking into a deposit made to Farook's bank account before the attack. The official would not elaborate further on the nature of the deposit or why it had caught the attention of investigators. A second official confirmed that the deposit was for £18,700 - $28,500 US dollars.