At least eight people have been killed and 11 injured in New York after a truck ploughed into people on a cycle path in Lower Manhattan.
A 29-year-old man, named by local media as Sayfullo Saipov, targeted pedestrians and cyclists with his truck before hitting a school bus and coming to a stop. Witnesses reported seeing him emerge from the vehicle carrying two firearms before he was shot and arrested by police.
Saipov is believed to have emigrated from Uzbekistan to the US in 2010 and settled in Tampa, Florida.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack a “cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians”, but said “New Yorkers are resilient and our spirit will never be moved by an act of violence and an act meant to intimidate us.”
Describing “tragedy of the greatest magnitude” at a press conference, New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner James O’Neill said police received reports of a truck mowing into pedestrians and cyclists along a cycle path shortly after 15:00 local time (19:00 GMT).
The vehicle finally came to a stop after striking a school bus, injuring two adults and two children, and a man emerged holding what appeared to be two handguns and shouted words “consistent with a terror attack”. He was shot in the abdomen by an police officer at the scene and arrested.
A paintball gun and pellet gun were recovered from the scene.
