8 killed by driver on bike path in ‘cowardly act of terror
The Canadian Press/October 31/17
NEW YORK — A man in a rented pickup truck mowed down pedestrians and cyclists along a busy bike path near the World Trade Center memorial on Tuesday, killing at least eight and seriously injuring 11 in what the mayor called “a particularly cowardly act of terror.”
The driver was shot in the abdomen by police after jumping out of the truck with what turned out to be a fake gun in each hand and shouting what witnesses said was “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” authorities said. The man underwent surgery and was in critical condition but was expected to survive.
Officials who were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity identified the attacker as 29-year-old Sayfullo Saipov and said he is from Uzbekistan and came to the U.S. legally in 2010. He has a Florida driver’s license but may have been staying in New Jersey, they said.
The driver barrelled along the bike path in a rented Home Depot truck for the equivalent of about 14 blocks, or around eight-tenths of a mile, before slamming into a small yellow school bus. The mayhem and the burst of police gunfire set off panic in the neighbourhood and left the pavement strewn with mangled bicycles and bodies that were soon covered with sheets.
“I saw a lot of blood over there. A lot of people on the ground,” said Chen Yi, an Uber driver.
Eugene Duffy, a chef at a waterfront restaurant, said, “So many police came, and they didn’t know what was happening. People were screaming. Females were screaming at the top of their lungs.”
Argentina’s foreign minister said the dead included Argentine citizens.
Police closed off streets across the western edge of lower Manhattan along the Hudson River, and officers rushed into the neighbourhood just as people were preparing for Halloween festivities, including the big annual parade through Greenwich Village.
A police bomb squad scoured the truck but found no explosives.
“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 Bill de Blasio said.
New York and other cities around the globe have been on high alert against attacks by extremists in vehicles. The Islamic State has been exhorting its followers to mow down people, and England, France and Germany have seen deadly vehicle attacks in the past year or so.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it a “lone wolf” attack and said there was no evidence to suggest it was part of a wider plot.
City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said a statement the driver made as he got out of the truck and the method of attack led police to conclude it was a terrorist act.
On Twitter, President Donald Trump called it “another attack by a very sick and deranged person” and declared, “NOT IN THE U.S.A.!”
While police did not specifically blame the Islamic State for the New York bloodshed, Trump railed against the extremist group, tweeting, “We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!”
Police said Saipov rented the truck at about 2 p.m. in New Jersey, entering the bike path about an hour later on West Street a few blocks from the new World Trade Center, the site of the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history. The truck then turned at Chambers Street, hitting the school bus and injuring two adults and two children.
A paintball gun and a pellet gun were found at the scene, police said. At least two covered-over bodies could be seen lying on the bike path, and the front end of the truck was smashed in, as was the side of the school bus.
Tom Gay, a school photographer, heard people saying there was an accident and went down to West Street, where a woman came around the corner shouting, “He has a gun! He has a gun!”
Gay said he stuck his head around the corner and saw a slender man in a blue track suit running on West Street holding a gun. He said a heavyset man was chasing him.
He said he heard five or six shots, and the man in the tracksuit fell to the ground, gun still raised in the air. He said a man came over and kicked the gun out of his hand.
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Associated Press writers Sadie Gurman in Washington, Tom Hays and Adam Geller in New York and Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
Colleen Long And Jake Pearson, The Associated Press
ثمانية قتلى و12 جريحاً بدهس إرهابي في نيويورك ينفذه مهاجر ازبكستاني
المستقبل/01 تشرين الثاني/17/دهست شاحنة صغيرة حشداً من المارة بعد ظهر الثلاثاء عندما اقتحمت ممراً للدراجات الهوائية بسرعة عالية جنوب مانهاتن في نيويورك، ما أسفر عن مصرع 8 أشخاص وإصابة 12 آخرين، وفقاً لما ذكرته شرطة المدينة التي اعتقلت المشتبه به. وترجل «الإرهابي» الذي استخدم شاحنة بيضاء اللون، حاملاً أسلحة تبيّن في ما بعد أنها وهمية. وأطلق رجال الشرطة النار عليه بعيد تركه الشاحنة فأصابوه بجروح واعتقلوه، وهو قيد العلاج في المستشفى ويقوم المحققون باستجوابه أملاً في معرفة دوافع جريمته. وحثت الشرطة السكان على تجنب منطقة الاعتداء حيث احتشدت سيارات الإسعاف والطوارئ. وهرع رئيس بلدية مدينة نيويورك وحاكم الولاية إلى مكان الحادث الذي وصفته الشرطة المحلية بأنه هجوم إرهابي، واستلم مكتب التحقيقات الفدرالي (أف بي آي) التحقيق للإحاطة بملابسات الاعتداء. وقال عمدة مدينة نيويورك بيل دي بلاسيو إن ثمانية أشخاص لقوا حتفهم في حادث الدهس الذي أعقبه إطلاق نار في حي مانهاتن، وهو وصف الحادث بأنه «عمل إرهابي جبان». وقال جيمس أونيل مفوض شرطة نيويورك متحدثاً إلى جوار رئيس البلدية في مؤتمر صحافي إن السائق رجل يبلغ من العمر 29 عاماً. وأضاف أن السلطات لن تكشف عن هويته في الوقت الحالي. واستنكر حاكم ولاية نيويورك أندرو كومو هذا العمل، مؤكدا أنه «لن يؤثر على روح أهل نيويورك الذين اختبروا الإرهاب سابقاً». وكتب الرئيس الأميركي دونالد ترامب في حسابه على «تويتر» أن «من يقف وراء هجوم نيويورك شخص مريض وخطير والشرطة تتابع التحقيقات». («المستقبل»، الحرة، أ ف ب، رويترز)
