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Truck Ploughs Through Manhattan Street Killing Eight, Mayor Calls It An Act Of Terror
Swarajya Staff
Nov 01, 2017, 03:29 AM | Updated 03:29 AM IST
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Several people were killed and numerous others injured in Lower Manhattan today ( 31 October) after a truck plowed along a bike path before cops took the driver into custody. The driver of the truck, hired from Home Depot, opened fire on the police in an unsuccessful attempt to flee. The NYPD confirmed that eight people were killed and that the suspect was in custody.
The truck drove south on the path striking multiple people. 8 people were killed, 11 have serious but non-life threatening injuries.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) October 31, 2017
The suspect is in custody. This is preliminary, more information to follow.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) October 31, 2017
"I thought it was Halloween (prank) or something," the Daily News quoted an eyewitness Tawhid Kabir, 20, of Queens as saying. "I saw the gun running in a circle and I realised it was serious," he said.
Another eyewitness, 44-year-old Eugene Duff, told New York Daily News that he saw white Home Depot truck run down a pair of CitiBike riders as the driver sped along the busy path off the Hudson River.
New Work City Mayor Bill de Blasio termed the incident as a ‘cowardly act of terror’.
This was a cowardly act of terror. It was intended to break our spirit. But New Yorkers are resilient. We will be undeterred.
— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) October 31, 2017
Federal law enforcement authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack and were taking the lead in the investigation according to a senior law enforcement official said, reports The New York Times. Two law enforcement officials said that after the attacker got out of the truck, he was heard yelling, “Allahu Akbar”.
More details awaited.
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