Saipov ‘felt good about what he had done’, wanted to fly IS flag

SayfulloSaipov,who mowed down eight people with his pick-up truck on Tuesday, “felt good about what he had done” and sought permission to fly the Islamic State’s (IS) flags in his room, investigators said.

The29-year-oldhaddrivenhis pick-up through bikers and pedestrians on a bike-path in Manhattan on Tuesday.

He was forced to abandon the vehicle that had collided against aschoolbus, just blocks fromthe 9/11 site and the memorial. He was shot by a police officer as he walkedaboutbrandishingweaponsthatturnedouttobepaintball and pellet guns. He also had knives in the truck.

Saipov hadcomefromUzbekistan to the United States on a diversityprogrammefornationals of countries with low rates of immigration to the US, which President Donald Trump wants to shut.

Authorities said Saipov was radicalised in the US, and the charging documents bore that out and detailed it.

News report citing acquaintancesandfriendsdrewapicture of the gradual radicalisation. A preacherfromaFloridamosque he attended told the New York Timeshehadtriedtopreventhim from going down the path of extremism.

Hewasparticularlymotivated “tocommittheattackafterviewing a video in which (IS founder and leader) Abu Bakr al-BaghdadiquestionedwhatMuslimsin the United States and elsewhere weredoingtorespondtothekillingofMuslimsinIraq,”thecourt filing said.

WASHINGTON:

AFP People take part in a vigil for those killed in the October 31 terror attack in New York City.