Truck mows down pedestrians, bikers; suspect pledges allegiance to ISIS
A Uzbek man driving a rental truck mowed down people on a crowded bike path in New York City on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring 11 others before he smashed his vehicle into a school bus, jumped out and ran, shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov who came to the United States in 2010 under its “Diversity Visa Programme”, was shot in the stomach by a police officer before being arrested.
A note found from him indicated his allegiance to ISIS.
However, in the absence of more definitive evidence, the suspect was being viewed for now as an “inspired” attacker.
Five of those killed in the attack were Argentine men, all friends from their school days who had come to New York for a reunion to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation. A sixth Argentine from the group survived the attack but is hospitalised with critical injuries to his neck. The dead also included a Belgian national.
The incident that imitated a series of vehicular attacks in several European cities over the past year also happened to be the most serious terrorist attack in New York City since the 9/11 terror strikes in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people.
While investigators are still interrogating the suspect to see if the attack was carried out at the bidding of ISIS, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said based on the information so far, it seems to be a “lone wolf” attack with no apparent link to a wider terrorist plot.
President Donald Trump, denouncing the attack in a series of tweets, said, “We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!”
Trump vowed that he will terminate the popular green card lottery after the Uzbek man who entered the US under the programme killed eight people in New York city.
Trump also took pot shots at Democrats over their liberal approach to immigration, said, “The terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa lottery Program,’ a (Democratic Senator) Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based…no more Democrat lottery systems. We much get MUCH tougher (and smarter).”
Under its “Diversity Visa Programme”, the United States hands out 50,000 visas annually to people across the world, drawn from random selection of individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.
The suspect, as a beneficiary of this programme, had a green card that allowed permanent legal residence. According to reports, he had hired a pickup truck from Home Depot just about an hour before the attack on the West Side Highway in the lower Manhattan area along the Hudson River.
“Based on information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference, a couple of hours following the afternoon attack.
Noting that New York City won’t react with fear, de Blasio said, “We will respond as we always do, we will be undeterred.” He announced that the city would go through with its traditional Halloween Day parade later in the evening.
The 11 people injured in the attack suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.