ISIS Claim of Responsibility in Las Vegas Shooting Is Sign of Desperation

ISIS's widely discounted claim of responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre is indicative of the terror group's increasing desperation as it loses strongholds in Syria and Iraq, according to terrorism-watchers.

By making apparent false claims of responsibility ISIS is becoming "somewhat of a joke among the rank-and-file of the international terrorist elite," said Peter Vincent, a former official at the Department of Homeland Security and a counter-terrorism expert.

ISIS claimed Monday that Las Vegas gunman Stephen Craig Paddock — who killed 59 people and injured more than 500 — was a "soldier of the Islamic State," but gave no evidence to back up its claim.

Citing a "security source," the group's media arm, Amaq, said the 64-year-old retiree from Mesquite, Nevada, carried out the attack "in response to calls to target coalition countries." Unusually, ISIS doubled down on the claim, releasing a second statement claiming Paddock had recently converted to Islam and identified him as "Abu Abd El Bar."

The FBI quickly dismissed ISIS's claims, saying at this stage there was no evidence Paddock had a connection to any international terrorist group.