New York attack: Eight people confirmed dead after terrorist ploughs truck into pedestrians

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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has revealed the death toll from the suspected terror attack in Lower Manhattan has reached eight.

Speaking at a press conference where officials confirmed they were treating the attack as “cowardly terrorist attack”, Mr Blasio said a number of other people had been injured.

“Let me be clear, this was an act of terrorism, a particularly cowardly act of terrorism aimed at innocent civilians,” he said, speaking on a evening when the city was preparing to celebrate Halloween.

Officials said the suspect, a 29-year-old man, who police declined to identify at this stage, had entered the bicycle lane at 3.05pm in a rental truck belonging to the Home Depot chain, striking cyclists and pedestrians. At Chambers Street, the driver struck a school bus, injuring two adults and children.

At that point, the suspect emerged from the truck carrying what appeared to be two handguns - a paintball gun and pellet gun. As he did so, he shouted “Allahu Akbar”. Officials said the suspect was shot in the abdomen and taken away by police.

New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said that the statement from from the suspect when he exited the truck was “consistent” with a terrorist attack. Officials said the suspect was not from New York but would not provide information about where he came from - either from in the US or overseas.

The Associated Press said that witnesses described a scene of panic and blood, with people screaming in fear and the path strewn with bodies and mangled bicycles.

Tom Gay, a school photographer, was on Warren Street and heard people saying there was an accident. He told the news agency, he went down to West Street and a woman came around the corner shouting, “He has a gun! He has a gun!’

Mr Gay said he stuck his head around the corner and saw a slender man in a blue track suit running southbound on West Street holding a gun. He said there was a heavyset man pursuing him.

He said he heard five or six shots and the man in the tracksuit fell to the ground, gun still raised in the air. He said a man came over and kicked the gun out of his hand.