Islamic State Takes Responsibility for Shooting at Muhammad Cartoon Competition

The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the recent shooting at a Muhammad cartoon competition in Garland, Texas over the weekend that left one security guard injured and the two gunmen dead.

The shooting occurred Sunday evening in Dallas, when two gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, opened fire in front of a controversial contest for an illustration of the Prophet Muhammad. The event was sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

One security guard was injured in Sunday's shooting and the two gunmen were killed at the scene by police.

On Tuesday, the Islamic State said in a statement read on the group's al-Bayan radio that they had facilitated Sunday's attack, saying "two of the soldiers of the caliphate" had shot the body guard at the controversial event.

"We tell America that what is coming will be even bigger and more bitter, and that you will see the soldiers of ISIS do terrible things," the group said.

The FBI has said that there is no immediate connection between Simpson and Soofi and any foreign terrorist group. Simpson had previously been investigated by the FBI for allegedly saying he wanted to travel overseas to join an extremist Islamic group.

According to The Dallas Morning News, in the weeks leading up to the controversial Muhammad drawing competition in Garland, followers of the Islamic State took to social media to call on sympathizers to stop the controversial contest or attack it.

Some Islamic State followers referenced the attack on Paris's Charlie Hebdo newspaper in January as being similar to an attack on the cartoon drawing contest in Texas.