‘This was a cowardly act of terror’
An Uzbek migrant ploughed a truck into pedestrians in NY, killing eight people in the first “act of terror” in the city since 9/11.
An Uzbek migrant and IS supporter ploughed a truck into cyclists and pedestrians in New York on Tuesday, killing eight people in the first deadly “act of terror” in the city since September 11, 2001.
Vehicles have previously been used as weapons of terror in Europe, often by supporters of the Islamic State group, attacking nations in the US-led coalition fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
Law enforcement officials have identified the 29-year-old driver as Sayfullo Saipov, who barrelled along the bike path for the equivalent of about 14 blocks at speeds of over 100mph before slamming into a small yellow school bus.
The New York Post quotes police sources saying handwritten notes in Arabic pledging loyalty to Islamic State along with an image of an IS flag were found inside the rental vehicle, which he had only hired an hour before the attack.
Saipov, who has a Florida license and lived in Tampa, is a father of five and had an address in New Jersey. He came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010.
He was working as an Uber driver and the Post quotes friends saying he was “very friendly’’. He is listed as having had several traffic-related minor violations while he lived in the US. In Missouri he received a ticket for failing to properly maintain his vehicle and he was stopped twice in Pennsylvania in 2012 and 2015, according to the website of the New Jersey Star Ledger. Each time he had given officers an address in Paterson, New Jersey, a city just west of Manhattan.
This afternoon, reports are emerging that multiple people had been shot in the Bronx with the shooter still at large. It is unclear if this incident is related to the truck attack.
The mayhem and the burst of police gunfire after he attempted to flee on foot yelling “Allahu Akbar’’ while brandishing fake guns set off panic in the neighbourhood and left the pavement strewn with mangled bicycles and the bodies of seven victims, all men. He was shot by police in the stomach and is expected to survive surgery today.
Five friends from Argentina are among those killed in the attack, the country’s foreign ministry says. The compatriots, from the city of Rosario in central Argentina, were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation. A statement from the ministry says it passed on its deepest condolences following the deaths of Hernan Diego Mendoza, Diego Enrique Angelini, Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernan Ferruchi. A sixth Argentinian man with the group named as Martin Ludovico Marro is being treated at the Presbyterian hospital in Manhattan, the ministry added. A Belgian woman was also killed when a driver ploughed into pedestrians and cyclists in New York.
US President Donald Trump swiftly reacted to the New York truck attack instructing the Department of Homeland Security to toughen restrictions on immigration.
Mr Trump has repeatedly used the threat of terrorist attacks to justify a tightening of immigration regulations, including halting refugee admissions and banning immigrants from certain Muslim-majority countries.
Eight people were killed after the man mowed down people on the busy bike path near the World Trade Centre. Eleven others were seriously injured in the broad daylight assault and first deadly terror-related attack in America’s financial and entertainment capital since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qa’ida hijackings brought down the Twin Towers.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed it was a “cowardly terror attack’’. “It’s a very painful day in our city. Horrible tragedy on the West Side. Let me be clear, based on the information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed, at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them” Mayor de Blasio said.
President Donald Trump, who has curbed the number of migrants entering the United States, swiftly declared that the US “must not” allow Islamic State jihadists to “return, or enter, our country after defeating them” overseas.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called it a “lone wolf” attack. He says there’s no evidence to suggest it was part of a wider plot.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill was asked at a news conference whether the suspect shouted the phrase “Allahu Akbar’’, which means “God is great” in Arabic, or something like it. O’Neill replied: “Yeah. He did make a statement when he exited the vehicle,” though he declined to elaborate.
Mr O’Neill says the method of attack and the suspect’s statement enabled officials “to label this a terrorist event.”
Heavily armed police reinforcements were stepped up across the city of 8.5 million in the wake of the attack. A planned Halloween parade will go ahead as planned, proving that the city would not bow to threats, officials said.
After he crashed into the school bus, injuring two adults and two children, the man left the vehicle brandishing a paintball gun and a pellet gun. He was then shot in the abdomen by a police officer and is now hospitalised.
Police say all the victims were male. Belgium said one of its nationals was among the dead.
Emergency services said the incident happened at 3:06pm (6.06am AEDT) at Chambers and West Streets in the up-market Tribeca neighbourhood, near Stuyvesant High School.
Shortly after the attack, Mr Trump decried it as an act of madness. “In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person,” he tweeted. “Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”
In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017
Retailer Home Depot confirmed that the truck was a rental. “We’ll be co-operating with authorities in their investigation,” a spokesman said.
A video apparently filmed at the scene and circulated online showed scattered bikes on the bike path and two people lying on the ground.
An witness told ABC Channel 7 that he saw a white pick-up truck drive south down the bike path alongside the West Side Highway at full speed and hit several people.
The witness, who was identified only as Eugene, said bodies were lying outside Stuyvesant High School, one of the city’s elite public schools. He said he heard seven to eight shots and then police pointing a gun at a man kneeling on the pavement.
Uber driver Chen Yi said he saw a truck plough into people on the popular bike path adjacent to the West Side Highway. “I saw a lot of blood over there. A lot of people on the ground,” Yi said. His passenger, Dmitry Metlitsky, said he also saw police standing near a man who was on his knees with his hands up, and another man bleeding on the ground nearby.
Victims could be seen along more than 15 blocks after a man drove down a bike path in Lower Manhattan:https://t.co/uRpCKFT6sZ pic.twitter.com/5kSygbiLuT
— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) October 31, 2017
‘No Aussies impacted’
Acting Prime Minister Julie Bishop says US authorities have told her they do not think Australians have been impacted in the New York terror attack, but she warned that could change as the situation was unfolding.
Ms Bishop said she spoke with Australia’s New York Consul-General, Alastair Walton, who was in the vicinity of the attack.
“Clearly there has been a tragedy in New York, I have spoken to our Consul-General who was in the vicinity when the shooting occurred, he has been making urgent inquiries to see if any Australians have been affected,” Ms Bishop told ABC radio.
“All our embassy and consulate staff have been accounted for, the state department has informed us that at this stage they do not think any Australians have been effected but the situation is still unfolding.
“My advice to any Australians who are in New York is to follow the directions of the local authorities and if you are back here in Australia and worried about any family or friends or loved ones in New York then please try to make contact with them or ring our consular hotline on 1300 555 135.”
She said there was heightened concern because it was Halloween and there were lots of children in the vicinity of the attack.
“Alastair Walton told me there are children everywhere, in fact there was a parade for Halloween planned down 6th Avenue shortly so it is a very difficult and complex situation that the local authorities are dealing with.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said she was appalled by the attack and that Britain stood with New York. “Together we will defeat the evil of terrorism,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed solidarity. “Our fight for freedom unites us more than ever,” he tweeted.
History of terror
It was the first mass casualty incident in New York since a US Navy veteran ploughed a car into pedestrians in Times Square, killing an 18-year-old woman from Michigan and injuring 22 other people on May 18.
Police patrols in Times Square, one of the world’s busiest districts, had already been beefed up in recent years, following a 2010 car bombing attempt and in the wake of attacks in Europe.
The last confirmed terror-related incident in New York was a pipe bomb explosion in September 2016 in Chelsea, lightly wounding 31 people. An American of Afghan descent, Ahmad Khan Rahimi, was convicted of terrorism earlier this month.
The most serious security alert in the city since the 2001 attacks saw Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani immigrant, plant a car bomb in Times Square on May 1, 2010.
His explosive device failed to detonate and he was arrested shortly after boarding a flight to the Middle East. He pleaded guilty and said he was aiming to avenge deaths from US missiles fired from drones operating over Pakistan. He was sentenced to life behind bars.
New weapon of choice
Today’s attack is the latest in a string of incidents around the world where drivers have used their vehicles as weapons.
August 17, 2017: A rented van veers into Barcelona’s crowded Las Ramblas promenade, swerving along the walkway and killing 13 people. Attackers drive a second vehicle to the boardwalk in the resort town of Cambrils the next day, fatally injuring one person. Islamic State claims the group as its own.
August 12, 2017: A car slams into a crowd protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing 32-year-old legal assistant Heather Heyer. June 19, 2017 A van attacks a crowd of Muslim worshippers near two north London mosques killing a 51-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant and injuring nine other people. British authorities charge Darren Osborne, an unemployed man from Wales, with murder and attempted murder.
April 7, 2017: A man drives a stolen beer truck into a crowd of afternoon shoppers outside the Ahlens store in Stockholm, killing four and injuring 15 others. An Uzbek man, Rakhmat Akilov, is arrested and pleads guilty to a terrorist crime. March 22, 2017 Khalid Masood runs his rented SUV into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge. Three people are killed on the bridge; a fourth person dies later. Police say Masood was inspired by extremist ideology.
January 20, 2017: A man with a history of mental health and drug abuse issues drives into a street crowded with pedestrians in Melbourne killing at least four people, including a child, and injuring around 15 others. Police say the incident had no links to terrorism.
Jan. 8, 2017: A Palestinian truck driver rams his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a popular Jerusalem tourist spot, killing four people and wounding 17. December 19, 2016 A young Tunisian rams a truck into a crowded Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring dozens in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
November 28, 2016: Eighteen-year-old Somali-born Abdul Razak Ali Artan drives a car into a crowd of students at Ohio State University then attacks bystanders with a knife. Thirteen people are injured.
July 14, 2016: A Tunisian living in France ploughs a refrigerator truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on the Mediterranean beachfront in Nice, killing 86. Attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, is killed by police.
December 2014: A motorist injures 13 pedestrians in the French city of Dijon; a day later, a man ran over pedestrians at a Christmas market in Nantes in western France, killing one and injuring nine. Both suspects had histories of mental illness.
October 20, 2014: A 25-year-old man drives his car into to Canadian Air Force members near Montreal, killing one and injuring another. Authorities say the driver was a convert to Islam.
AFP, Reuters, AP
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