New York jihadi followed ISIS web guide to the letter
THE Uzbek immigrant suspected of carrying out New York’s deadliest terror outrage since 9/11 followed ‘to a T’ Islamic State instructions published on its social media channels, police chiefs said yesterday.
Sayfullo Saipov, 29, an Uber taxi driver and married father of three, is accused of killing eight people after rampaging with a rental truck for nearly a mile down a popular bike path in Manhattan.
In an attack similar to recent outrages in London, Nice, Barcelona and Berlin, officials said he turned the route into a ‘corridor of death’.
Saipov, who was carrying knives and imitation guns, was heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ – God is great in Arabic – as he emerged from the vehicle. Despite claims by internet giants to have cracked down on online terrorist propaganda, pages from an online IS magazine discussing in detail how best to carry out an attack with vehicles were still available on Twitter and Google yesterday.
But Google said last night it would remove the online example of the ISIS truck attack guide flagged up by the Daily Mail. A spokesman said: ‘We are removing this result as guided by law. We’re doing more every day to tackle extremism online by continuing to improve our algorithms and through our partnerships with government and civil society groups.’
Downing Street said Theresa May spoke with Donald Trump yesterday and the leaders ‘discussed the need for an international approach to tackling poisonous terrorist ideology online’.
A group of five friends who had travelled to New York for a graduation reunion were yesterday named as being among the dead. Argentines Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco, Ariel Erlij and Hernán Ferruchi, all 48 or 49, had flown to the US to celebrate 30 years since leaving the polytechnic where they completed degrees.
Mother Anne-Laure Decadt, 31, from Belgium, who had given birth to a baby boy just three months ago and has another son of three, was yesterday also confirmed to be among the dead. officials said that nine people remained in serious or critical conditions. Germany and Belgium confirmed that its citizens were among those hurt but two of the dead, both Americans, have not yet been named. Meanwhile police believe Saipov was ‘self-radicalised’ in the US. Sources said he was ‘proud’ and ‘boasting’ of his murder run as he recovered from surgery in hospital yesterday after being shot by police.
New York police deputy commissioner John Miller, head of Intelligence and Counter-terrorism, said of Saipov: ‘He appears to have followed almost exactly to a T the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media channels...’ After last July’s Nice attack, an article in IS’s online magazine Rumiyah praised the carnage and called for others to recreate it. ‘Vehicles are like knives, as they are extremely easy to acquire. But unlike knives, which if found in one’s possession can be a cause for suspicion, vehicles arouse absolutely no doubts due to their widespread use,’ said the article, still available online yesterday. According to his charge sheet filed by the FBI, Saipov had been planning some sort of an attack for a year and decided two months ago to do it in a truck.
They are investigating the possibility – backed by CCTV footage – that Saipov did a dry run for the attack three days earlier.
The criminal charges against Saipov said he began planning the attack a year ago and chose Halloween because he believed there would be more people on the streets. Mr Miller said Saipov – originally from Tashkent – had not been on either the police or FBI’s radar. And New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo believed Saipov was a ‘lone wolf’.
However, security will be stepped up for this weekend’s New York Marathon as the FBI last night revealed it had tracked down a second Uzbek, 32-year- old Muk- hammadzoir Kadirov. After moving to the US seven years ago, Saipov worked as a commercial truck driver and as an Uber taxi driver. Uber, which has been criticised for inadequately vetting its drivers, faced new questions about its checks yesterday.
Although it insisted Saipov passed its check and drove more than 1,400 trips, it emerged that he was convicted for driving with inadequate brakes in Missouri two years ago. Fellow Uzbek Mirrakhmat Muminov, an Uzbek community activist who lives in ohio and spoke to Saipov two months ago, said: ‘He became religious on the spur of the moment.’
Saipov appeared in a New York court in a wheelchair yesterday handcuffed and with his feet shackled. His lawyers were not seeking bail. He did not enter a plea to terrorism charges. A judge ordered him to be detained and set his next court date for November 15.
‘He lived in his own world’