Was Las Vegas shooter linked to ISIS? Terror group insists attack was their revenge on US

The video lays claim to the deadly shooting rampage by American Stephen Paddock, 64, saying they radicalised him months before he shot dead 59 and wounded 527 people at a music festival on Sunday night.

But the FBI has vehemently denied there is a link, saying the multi-millionaire real estate investor had no ties to the terrorist group.

Using red imagery to resemble blood on the video, a British voiceover warns there will be more bloodshed.

In its “message to America and its allies” the words “as you kill us in our countries, we will kill you in your countries” hovers on the screen.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) uncovered the two-minute video on the pro-ISIS Al-Battar Media Foundation site.

Entitled ‘Rightful Revenge,’ it uses an old recording by British ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, who became known as Jihadi John.

The sophisticated video uses the press conference by Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo in some of the imagery and adds harrowing victims’ testimony of the carnage.

ISIS accuses America of “being at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State”. 

The group warns “we are an Islamic army that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide, so effectively any aggression towards IS is aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life”. 

The video also blames US President Donald Trump for ignoring their previous warnings. 

A song, featured regularly in similar Arabic propaganda videos, plays in the background with the lyrics “Oh, my brothers, jihad is the way, to bring back the honour, the glorious day. The promise of Allah will always remain, the fight for his sake is the ultimate gain”. 

Yesterday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting which left carnage and devastation in Las Vegas.

But US officials insisted there is no evidence so far linking the gunman to any international militant group.

In its claim, ISIS said the gunman had converted to Islam a few months ago, according to the group’s news agency, Amaq. 

American security agencies are examining the claim.

Amaq news agency, said: “The Las Vegas attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried it out in response to calls to target states of the coalition (in Iraq).” 

In a later statement from ISIS, the militant group referred to the Las Vegas attacker by the name of “Abu Abd al-Bar al-Ameriki”.

US authorities said the gunman, who lived in a retirement home in Mesquite, Nevada, was armed with more than 10 rifles, and opened fire on a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday night from a 32nd-floor hotel window.

The gunman killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was shooting from, police said.

Two senior US government officials said that Mr Paddock’s name was not on any database of suspected terrorists. 

Authorities have yet to identify a motive for the shooting.

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said authorities believe it was a “lone wolf” attack.

But ISIS has a history of exaggerated or false claims over attacks.

The extremist organisation has suffered a string of major setbacks in Iraq and Syria, where it has lost much of the territory it once claimed as part of a self-styled Islamic caliphate. 

However, the group remains active in recruiting followers on social media, and has repeatedly called on its supporters to carry out attacks in Western nations.