Eight people have been killed in New York after a man in a rented pickup truck ploughed into cyclists on a bike path in a suspected terror attack, officials have said.
The driver allegedly emerged from the vehicle screaming “Allahu Akbar” and brandishing a paintball gun and a pellet gun in each hand before he was shot by police, witnesses say
The 29-year-old, named by the US media as Sayfullo Saipov, “lone wolf” tried to flee on foot but was shot in the stomach by cops and taken into police custody as the FBI and NYPD launched a joint investigation.
Witnesses have described seeing bodies and bikes strewn over the ground with people screaming in panic at the bloody scene.
Police say the suspect drove the rented Home Depot truck down a popular cycle lane on the busy West Side Highway, just a few blocks from the new World Trade Center, at just after 3pm local time.
The vehicle crushed cyclists and pedestrians before slamming into a school bus, injuring two adults and two children on board.
The driver then got out of his vehicle waving a fake weapon in each hand and screaming “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is great” in Arabic, according to the NY Times.
He was then shot in the stomach and taken into police custody, though his condition was not immediately disclosed.
Manhattan restaurant chef Eugene Duffy was crossing a street when he heard something, turned back and saw the pickup truck on the bike path.
He says he saw the bodies of two men on the ground, their bikes mangled.
