The attack in Manhattan on Tuesday, a few hours before the annual Halloween parade, led to 8 deaths and 11 people being injured. The New York Police called the attack as one of the deadliest since the September 11 attacks on Twin towers.
Latest reports said that US federal authorities have brought in terrorism charges against the 29-year-old attacker.
New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio termed the attack as a "terrorist attack". In a press conference, Blasio said, "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."
The suspect was driving a pick up truck and mowed down several pedestrians in a bicycle track in Manhattan. He then rammed the truck into a school bus and started running up and down the highway shouting "Allahu Akbar" with a pellet gun and a paintball gun in his hands.
Here's what we know about the attacker of the Manhattan attack:
The attacker has been identified as a 29-year-old Uzbek citizen Sayfullo Saipov.
Saipov is a legal resident of the United States and came to US in 2010 from Uzbekistan.
Saipov left behind knives and a note, in Arabic and English, in the truck that included Islamic religious references and said, "Islamic Supplication. It will endure", FBI agent Amber Tyree said in court papers. "It will endure" commonly refers to ISIS, Tyree said.
Though no direct link to ISIS was found, materials in Saipov's truck pointed towards an ISIS connection. Investigators later found out that Saipov was inspired by ISIS videos. "In particular, Saipov was motivated to commit the attack after viewing a video in which [ISIL leader] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi...questioned what Muslims in the United States and elsewhere were doing to respond to the killing of Muslims in Iraq," the AlJazeera reported.
Saipov rented the pick-up truck from New Jersey. He rented the truck around 9 days before the attack to practice the route from New Jersey over the George Washington bridge and on to West side of Manhattan, a police report claimed.
According to federal investigators, Saipov started planning the attack about a year ago and wanted to inflict maximum damage and chose Halloween as their will be more people out on the streets.
According to New York Times, the investigators found videos of ISIS fighters killing prisoners and also videos of how to make explosives. They also found photographs of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Saipov was shot after he stepped out of the truck after attacking pedestrians. He was taken to the hospital and said to be critical. Later, Saipov was produced in court where he arrived in a wheelchair.
One of the reports also claim that Saipov requested the ISIS flag be hanged in his hospital room.
Saipov had apparently started driving an Uber around six-months ago, the CNN reported. Uber said that no discrepancies were found in Saipov's background check, but they are cooperating with the investigators.
