New York: Uzbek man, 29, kills eight and injured 15 with truck while shouting Allahu Akbar, pledged allegiance to ISIS. By The Australian.
Law enforcement officials have identified the suspect who drove his rental pickup truck the wrong way down a bike path that runs along the Hudson River in Manhattan, killing eight people, as Uzbek citizen Sayfullo Saipov.
The 29-year-old driver who brought terrorism back to Lower Manhattan on Halloween 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 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.
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.
The New York Post reports he was working as an Uber driver and quotes friends saying he was “very friendly’’.
The 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. …
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. …
Police Commissioner James O’Neill was asked at a news conference whether the suspect shouted the phrase “Allahu Akbar’’, which means[“My God is greater than Yours”] 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.
hat-tip Charles, Stephen Neil
