FBI cracks iPhone encryption, finds al Qaeda links to 2019 Florida naval base shooter
The FBI has found links between al Qaeda and the Saudi terrorist who killed three US sailors in Florida after cracking the military trainee's iPhones, according to reports.
Quoting a person familiar with the investigation, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported on Monday that US investigators broke through the security protocols of two iPhones and found "links" between Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, and a suspected al-Qaeda operative.
Alshamrani was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force on the Pensacola base as part of a US Navy training program when he killed three and wounded several others in December last year.
He was killed following the 15-minute shooting spree, in which he shot at a photo of Donald Trump and made statements critical of American soldiers overseas.
In February, the Islamist militant group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attack but the links would provide the first direct evidence of the connection.
The decryption heads off a confrontation between Apple and the Justice Department, which had been critical of the company for not comprising its customers' privacy in the interests of national security.
Attorney General William Barr and the FBI are expected to announce the findings in a Monday news conference, CNN reported.
The Justice Department has previously claimed the attack was motivated by "jihadist ideology", and Alshamrani had posted on social media various anti-American and anti-Israel messages, including on the anniversary of 9/11 that "the countdown has begun".
