Terror attack suspect followed IS playbook
INVESTIGATORS probing the New York terror attack have revealed alleged mass murderer Sayfullo Saipov followed “to a ‘T’ the instructions” shared by ISIS on social media for such an attack and picked Halloween to cause maximum carnage.
The revelations came as Saipov was charged by prosecutors over his deadly rampage in the name of Islamic State, which detectives say was inspired by ISIS videos that question the killing of Muslims in Iraq.
The FBI also announced they were seeking a second Uzbek man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, in connection with the Halloween massacre, releasing a wanted poster with his face on it.
They later announced they had found the man in New Jersey but it remains unclear what his connection is to Saipov or the deadly events of Tuesday.
Saipov stands accused of killing eight people while injuring a dozen others after crashing the rented truck into a sea of people on a bike path next to the Hudson River in Manhattan on Tuesday.
Nine people are still in hospital – four of them critically injured.
Saipov faced Manhattan Federal court on Wednesday evening in a wheelchair.
He has been charged with “one count of providing material support to terrorists and one count of violence and destruction of a motor vehicle causing death”.
The latter charge brings into play the death penalty – a rarity for New York.
Cops found a note referencing Islamic State along with a stun gun and three knives in his mangled rented truck following the attack.
“He appears to have followed almost exactly to a T, the instructions that ISIS has put out in its social media channels before with instructions to their followers on how to carry out such an attack,” John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism for the NYPD, said.
“He did this in the name of ISIS.”
On Saipov’s cellphone, FBI agents found 90 videos, including of ISIS fighters killing prisoners and of instructions for making an explosive device, according to the complaint.