2 Gunmen Killed after Opening Fire Outside a Conference on Muhammad Art Exhibit Cartoons Event in Dallas, US.

Two gunmen have been shot dead after opening fire outside a conference on cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a suburb of Dallas, US police say.
About 200 people had been attending the Muhammad Art Exhibit when, shortly before it was due to finish at 19:00 (00:00 GMT), they were told of a shooting outside.

The gunmen drove to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland as the event was ending, and began shooting at a security officer before being killed by police.
The bomb squad has been called in to search their vehicle for explosives.The event, organised by a group critical of Islam, included a contest for drawings of the Prophet.
One of the keynote speakers was the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an outspoken critic of Islam in Western societies.

Security had been tight, but Garland police said there had been no credible threats in advance, and it was not immediately clear if the shootings were related to the event.

It was reported that one of the suspects had been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who had been previously investigated on suspicion of terrorism offences.

Officials believe that he sent several Twitter messages before the Sunday's shooting, including one with the hashtag #texasattack. The Twitter account was later suspended.

One woman at the conference was leaving the building when she said she heard "quick shots" from what she thought was a machine gun.

"Police started running everywhere, they quickly told us to run as fast as we could to get back in the building," she said.

They and people from nearby buildings were later evacuated.

The "first suspect was shot immediately," The second suspect was wounded and reached for his backpack. He was shot again."

Security officer Bruce Joiner was taken to hospital after being shot in the ankle, but was later released.

Local police said earlier that they had not been yet able to identify the gunmen, whose bodies remained by the car while bomb experts inspected it for explosives.

Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, warned that the inspection is "a very slow, tedious operation that goes on".