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Father of San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik condemns daughter’s actions

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The father of one of the San Bernardino shooters has condemned last week’s act of terror that killed 14 people.

Gulzar Ahmad Malik told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he regrets the involvement of his daughter, Tashfeen Malik, in the massacre at the Inland Regional Center.

“I am in such pain that I cannot even describe it,” he said via telephone from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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“Whatever God does, only he knows better, and only God knows why did it happen.”

He told the AP that he gave a statement to Saudi intelligence and would not comment further.

Tashfeen Malik, 29, was born in Pakistan to an affluent and politically influential family in a region where religious schools are known as incubators of Islamist extremism.

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She met her husband and fellow shooter, Chicago-born Syed Rizwan Farook, online. Throughout their long-distance courtship, the two spoke of martyrdom and together plotted a terrorist attack — inspired by radical ideologies they both had held long before they met, authorities said.

“We believe they were inspired by foreign organizations,” FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday. “We are working very hard to see if anyone else was involved in assisting, equipping or helping them. And did they have other plans?”

Comey added that the couple began communicating prior to the rise of Islamic State, which gained prominence in 2014.

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In July of that year, Malik arrived in the United States on what is known as a fiancée visa. She and Farook married in Saudi Arabia, in the holy city of Mecca.

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On his own, Farook may have scrapped plans for an attack a few years ago after the arrests of several men in Riverside who were accused of plotting to kill Americans in Afghanistan, according to a government official not authorized to speak publicly.

A few weeks before their attack on a holiday party filled with Farook’s co-workers , the couple obtained a $28,500 loan — an advance that authorities believe may have helped them acquire last-minute firearms, ammunition and components to build explosives. Farook, a 28-year-old environmental health inspector for San Bernardino County, was seen recently shooting targets at a gun range.

Shortly after the Dec. 2 attack, Farook and Malik were killed in a gun battle with police. They left behind a 6-month-old daughter.

For more California news, follow @rickserranolat @bybrianbennett @corinaknoll

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