California shooters had a dozen pipe bombs

The couple who attacked a social services center in San Bernardino, Calif., yesterday had stockpiled 12 pipe bombs and hundreds of tools that could be used to make improvised explosive devices, police said this morning.

Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, identified alternately as his wife or fiancée, evidently intended to inflict much more damage than they did. When they fled the scene of the shooting, after killing 14 people, they left behind three pipe bombs linked to a remote control trigger that failed to go off. They also carried with them 1,600 bullets and had access to 3,000 more ammunition rounds at their home.

News of the bombs comes amid increasing speculation Farook might have been influenced by radical Islamic ideology. Co-workers described him as a devout Muslim although he didn’t talk about his religion at work. He traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2013 for the Hajj and came home with a wife. He later started growing a beard, one of his co-workers said. The couple had a 6-month-old daughter they left with a relative on the morning of the attack.

According to CNN, anonymous law enforcement sources claim Farook had contact via phone and social media with people under investigation by the FBI for links to international terrorism.

Officials are still searching for a concrete motive for the attack, which they initially said could be related to workplace grievances. But President Barack Obama, after a briefing from national security advisors, admitted officials could not rule out terrorism. The president also ordered the nation’s flags lowered to half-staff through Monday to honor the victims.

Police said today the number of people injured in the attack has risen from 17 to 21. Ten are still being treated at area hospitals, with two in critical condition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.