New York truck ramming kills eight as suspect linked to IS

A truck drove over bikers and pedestrians in New York City on Tuesday, killing eight and injuring several people. The incident is being treated as a terrorist attack, law enforcement officials said.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces is leading the investigation into the attack.

"This was a particularly cowardly act of terror," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

President Donald Trump has linked the incident to the Islamic State group and called for more "extreme vetting" of people entering the country in a series of tweets following the attack.

Eight people were killed in the incident and 11 injured, according to de Blasio. The attack took place near the West Side Highway and Chambers Street.

Reports said five of those killed were Argentinians and one was Belgian.

In a tweet, Trump called the alleged attacker "a very sick and deranged person" and in a later post he linked the attack to the Islamic State (IS) group. "We must not allow ISIS to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!" he said. 

Hours after the attack, Trump ordered “extreme vetting” of people entering the country.

Several media outlets identified the suspect as Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old from Tampa, Florida, who moved from Uzbekistan to the US in 2010.

According to reports, the suspect was shot and arrested at the scene.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said there is no indication of further threats of a wider plot. 

James O'Neill, New York City Police commissioner, said the incident is similar to truck attacks perpetrated by militants in Europe.

The truck had stopped after colliding with a school bus. Police said they were investigating reports of gunshots fired after the crash, but did not confirm them.

Police also said the suspect was taken into custody.

The alleged attacker was heard yelling, “Allahu Akbar.” The New York Times reported that investigators found two handwritten notes on the scene that showed the suspect's allegiance to IS.

A police spokesman posted a photo showing a white pickup truck on the bike path with its front end smashed. The truck had the logo of the Home Depot hardware store chain on its door.

An eyewitness told ABC Channel 7 that he saw a white pickup truck drive south down the bike path alongside the West Side Highway at full speed and hit several people. The witness said bodies were lying outside Stuyvesant High School, one of the city's elite public schools.

He also reported hearing about nine or 10 shots, but was not sure where they came from.

One witness, John Williams, a 22-year-old student, told reporters at the scene that he heard about five gunshots before seeing a large man with curly hair being taken into custody.

"He seemed very calm," Williams said. "He was not putting up a fight."

If confirmed, Tuesday's attack would be the first militant act since Trump came to office, although there have been several mass shootings and politically-motivated murders.

Trump came to office vowing to be "tough" on what he dubbed "radical Islamic terrorism". 

He has curbed the number of migrants and refugees coming into the country, particularly from Muslim-majority nations.

According to a 2016 CATO study, the chance of an American being killed at home in a terror attack committed by a foreigner is one in 3.6 million, or one in 3.64 billion for foreign refugees.

The White House has nonetheless vowed to fight rulings against its ban on travellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.