Two Shot Dead At Anti-Muslim Cartoon Contest

Federal agents are searching a Phoenix apartment after two gunmen were shot dead in Texas at a contest to draw cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The men had opened fire with assault rifles on a security officer outside the competition venue in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, on Sunday night.

Police returned fire, killing the pair, and bomb squad officers were called in to search their vehicle as a precaution.

The contest, at the Curtis Culwell Center, was organised by the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative, which aimed to award $10,000 for the cartoon judged the best.

The gunmen had driven up as the event was due to end.

The identities of the shooters have yet to be confirmed, but US media reports named one of the gunmen as Elton Simpson.

ABC News said FBI agents and bomb squad officers were searching his home in Phoenix, Arizona. The second gunman reportedly lived in the same apartment complex.

Simpson was previously known to the FBI, according to reports, and had sent out several tweets leading up to the shooting, including one with the hashtag, #TexasAttack.

One report said he had previously been the target of a terror-related investigation.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terror groups, reported that an Islamic State (IS) fighter claimed on Twitter that the shooting was carried out by two pro-IS individuals.

The tweet, attributed by SITE to Abu Hussain al Britani, a name used by British Islamic state fighter Junaid Hussain, said: "2 of our brothers just opened fire at the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) art exhibition in Texas."

A White House official said President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation.

The shooting echoed past attacks or threats in other Western countries against art depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

Depictions of Mohammed are considered insulting to many followers of Islam.

According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of the prophet - even a respectful one - is considered blasphemous.

In January, 12 people were killed in Paris when the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were stormed by jihadist brothers.

The president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, Pamela Geller, had said that she intended the event in Texas to support free speech in response to the violence over drawings of Mohammed.

Ms Geller's group is known for campaigning against the building of an Islamic centre a few blocks from the World Trade Center in Manhattan and for buying advertising space in cities across the US criticising Islam.

Among those attending the event was Dutch far right politician Geert Wilders who said he was "shocked" by the shootings.

Officer Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, said the event had been monitored for several months but there had been no credible threat.