A driver killed 10 people and injured dozens more after plowing a pickup truck donning an ISIS flag into a crowd of people celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, just days after a pro-ISIS outlet called on Muslims to wage Islamic jihad in the U.S., Europe and Russia.
The tragic event happened at about 3:15 a.m. on New Year’s Day and the FBI identified the driver as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar of Texas.
Police said the suspect died after jumping out of his truck and trading gunfire with responding officers.
The FBI told reporters on Wednesday that an ISIS flag was located on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, adding that the FBI is working to determine Din Jabbar’s potential associations and affiliation to the terrorist organization.
SUSPECT IDENTIFIED AFTER DRIVER KILLS TEN, INJURES DOZENS IN BOURBON STREET TRUCK ATTACK
On Sunday, a pro-ISIS outlet turned to Telegram and called on Muslims living in the US, Europe and Russia to conduct attacks on New Year’s Eve.
“Oh monotheists in Europe, America, Russia and other lands of the Crusaders, we know that you are eager to join your brothers in the land of Jihad, but the paths have been cut off for you,” a translated version of the post read. “The Crusaders are among you. Their security has been prolonged, and your brothers are being killed.
SEPARATE SHOOTINGS NEAR NEW ORLEANS PARADE ROUTE LEAVE 2 DEAD, 10 WOUNDED
“The time has come to take out the swords from their sheaths and to hamstring the horses in their places that Allah loves and is pleased with,” the post continued. “They are preparing for the feast of their polytheism, so turn their feast into mourning and their joy into a calamity.”
The outlet asked Muslims, or “Crusaders,” if they felt safe in their homes as their brothers and sisters were in detention centers and camps, before calling on them to “repeat the attack on them and repeat the days of those who preceded you on this path.”
“So, lie in wait for them, lie in wait, and seize opportunities and attack them like a hungry lion attacks its heedless prey,” the message read. “Let none of you be cowardly or weak, and let the saying of Allah be before your eyes: Come and fight the polytheists all together as they fight you all together, so put your trust in God and repeat the days of terror against the Crusaders with killing, spite and torture, for the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘An unbeliever and his killer will never meet in the Fire, so support God and He will support you, and be honest with Him.’”
The attack in New Orleans comes nearly two weeks after a suspected terror attack on a Christmas market in Germany.
A psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia was reportedly arrested in connection to the Dec. 20 car-ramming at a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injured over 200 others.
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