[mhking]

authorities have played down the Islamic terrorism angle to avoid mass "panic" in the area, an ATF official told WorldNetDaily.

That fits in with what I've heard from various folks...

[js1138]

authorities have played down the Islamic terrorism angle to avoid mass "panic" in the area, an ATF official told WorldNetDaily.

That fits in with what I've heard from various folks...

I think a more likely explanation is that they don't know for sure, and there is a huge cost for being wrong. Now that they have eyewitnesses to the actual shooting, they are releasing the ME description. It's still possible that these are ME nutcases with no formal ties to AQ.