Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a truck attack in New York City that killed eight people on Tuesday, the group’s online publication said on Thursday.
Islamic State said in its weekly issue of Al-Naba newspaper that “the attacker is one of the caliphate soldiers”. It did not provide evidence to support its claim.
Trump said the Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people when he drove a truck down a New York City bike path should get the death penalty. The suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, told investigators he was inspired by watching Islamic State videos and began planning Tuesday’s attack a year ago, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.
After losing control of its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State is investing more of its resources in a “leaderless jihad” that does not need a physical state, writes Mohamad Bazzi. The group will now rely on lone wolf assaults like the truck attack in New York to project a greater reach than it has.
“To combat this more complex range of threats posed by Islamic State and its sympathizers,” says Bazzi, “governments throughout the world will need to do more than simply continue military strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria.”
