A US Army veteran with an ISIS flag on his truck swerved around makeshift barriers and ploughed into New Orleans' crowded French Quarter on New Year's Day, killing 15 people, and police were searching for others who may have been involved in placing explosive devices in the area.
Some 35 people were injured in the attack at 3.15am on Wednesday (local time), near the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Sts, a historic tourist destination known for its music and bars where crowds were celebrating the new year.
After ramming the crowd with his pickup truck, the driver was shot dead in a gunfight with police, officials said.
Police identified the suspect as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US citizen from Texas.
Officials said the death toll could rise as some of those injured were in critical condition.
"This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could... He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did."
Surveillance video captured three men and a woman placing an improvised explosive device in the French Quarter, the Associated Press reported, citing a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin.
That same bulletin said the devices were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation, and that a remote control was found in the suspect vehicle, the AP reported.
The Sugar Bowl, a classic college football game played in New Orleans each year on New Year's Day, was postponed for 24 hours until Thursday night as police swept parts of the city looking for possible explosive devices and converged on neighbourhoods in search of clues. The city will also be the site of the NFL Super Bowl on February 9.
The victims included the mother of a 4-year-old who had just moved into a new apartment after getting a promotion at work, a New York financial employee and accomplished student athlete who was visiting home for the holidays, and an 18-year-old aspiring nurse from Mississippi.
United States President Joe Biden condemned what he called a "despicable" act and said investigators were looking into whether there might be a link to a Tesla truck fire outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. So far, there was no evidence linking the two events, he said.
"The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he's inspired by ISIS, expressing the desire to kill," Biden said of the New Orleans suspect.
Officials told CNN the suspect, obscured by darkness in the videos, spoke about his divorce and plans to gather his family for a "celebration" with the intent of killing them. He later changed his plans and said that he joined ISIS, CNN said.
ISIS - often called Islamic State or ISIL - is a Muslim militant group that once imposed a reign of terror over millions of people in Iraq and Syria until it collapsed following a sustained military campaign by a US-led coalition.
'RANGE OF SUSPECTS'
An ISIS flag was found on the rented vehicle, prompting an investigation into possible links to terrorist organisations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
"We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates," Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan told reporters.
Public records show Jabbar worked in real estate in Houston. In a promotional video posted four years ago, Jabbar described himself as born and raised in Beaumont, a city about 130km east of Houston. He spent 10 years in the US military as a human resources and IT specialist.
Jabbar said the military was where he learned the importance of great service and to take matters seriously.
"So I've taken those skills and applied them to my career as a real estate agent, where I feel like what really sets me apart from other agents is my ability to be able to one be a fierce negotiator," he said in the video.
Jabbar was in the regular Army from March 2007 until January 2015 and then in the Army Reserve from January 2015 until July 2020, an Army spokesperson said. He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010 and held the rank of staff sergeant at the end of service.
Duncan of the FBI said she believed he was honourably discharged from the US Army, which did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to confirm his service record.
Asked how many potential accomplices the FBI was looking into, she said it was a "range of suspects" and urged anyone who had contact with Jabbar in the previous 72 hours to contact authorities.
Investigators found weapons and a potential explosive device in the vehicle, and two other potential explosive devices were found in the French Quarter and rendered safe, the FBI said.
Mike and Kimberly Strickland of Mobile, Alabama, said they were in New Orleans for a bluegrass concert and heading back to their hotel just 20 metres from where the truck made impact with some pedestrians.
"There were people everywhere," Kimberly Strickland said in an interview. "You just heard this squeal and the rev of the engine and this huge loud impact and then the people screaming and debris - just metal - the sound of crunching metal and bodies."
About 400 officers were on duty in the French Quarter at the time of the incident, including a number of officers who had established a makeshift barrier to prevent anyone from driving into the pedestrian zone, police said.
"This is not just an act of terrorism, this is evil," Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters. She said two police officers were wounded by gunfire and in stable condition.
In response to vehicle attacks on pedestrian malls around the world, New Orleans was in the process of removing and replacing the steel barriers known as bollards that restrict vehicle traffic in the Bourbon Street area.
Construction began in November and was due to be completed in time for the Super Bowl, officials said. In the meantime, police vehicles and officers attempted to provide a barrier, Kirkpatrick said.
"This particular terrorist drove around, onto the sidewalk and got around the hard target," Kirkpatrick said.
Jon Alterman, Middle East expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said ISIS, though diminished in the field, has long attempted to radicalize people online, with only occasional success.
"It doesn’t take a huge operation to find individuals in personal distress and give them a sense that their life can have some greater meaning," he said in an email.
While mass shootings are more commonly a threat in the United States, vehicle rammings have been used to kill civilians in the US and around the world.
Last month in Germany, a 50-year-old man was charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder after police said he ploughed a car through crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring scores.
TESLA TRUCK EXPLODES OUTSIDE TRUMP BUILDING
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism, officials said.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the hotel.
The incident occurred just hours after the deadly New Orleans attack.
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organisation, the company of President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to him.
"Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel - there's lots of questions that we have to answer," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said a news conference.
FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz later told reporters that it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism. The FBI had identified the person driving the vehicle, which had been rented in Colorado, but was not yet ready to publicly identify the driver.
Musk said the blast was unrelated to the Cybertruck itself.
"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk said in a post on X. "All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."
