The suspect identified as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov an immigrant from Uzbekistan
Eight people have been killed and a dozen injured in the worst terror attack in New York. The local media has termed it a worst terror attack in New York City after September 11, 2001.
According to the media reports, a 29-year-old man in a rented pickup truck drove down a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City.
The report further says that the attacker was screaming “Allahu Akbar” while approached riders on the path before reaching and ploughing into a school bus.
The attacker then jumped out of the truck wielding what turned out to be a pellet gun, and a paintball gun. He was chased and shot in the stomach by a police officer but survived and was arrested.
The law enforcement agencies have identified the suspect as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, who arrived in the US in 2010.
The suspect has driver’s license of Florida but was reportedly living in Paterson, New Jersey, with family, sources told local media.
“This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them.”
US media, citing police sources, said that Saipov left a note in the truck claiming he committed the attack on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
US President Donald Trump blamed the attack on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which has encouraged its followers to use vehicles to mow people down. The UK, France and Germany have all seen deadly vehicle attacks in the recent past.
The US president added: “We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!”.