Written by Brian Thevenot

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – A U.S. Army veteran carrying an Islamic State flag on his truck swerved around makeshift barricades and plowed into New Orleans’ crowded French Quarter on New Year’s Day, killing 15 people in an attack that officials believe was carried out with help. Terrorists. Others.

The suspect, identified as Shamsuddin Jabbar, 42, an American citizen from Texas who previously served in Afghanistan, was killed in a shootout with police after he ran into the crowd.

The attack, which injured 30 other people, occurred around 3:15 a.m. (0915 GMT) near the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, a historic tourist destination known for its music and bars where crowds were celebrating the New Year.

Police and political leaders vowed to arrest any accomplices.

As the perceived danger continued, officials postponed the Sugar Bowl, a classic college football game played in New Orleans every year on New Year’s Day. The game between Notre Dame and Georgia was postponed for 24 hours until Thursday evening, as police combed parts of the city for possible explosive devices and gathered in neighborhoods to search for evidence.

The city will also host the NFL Super Bowl on February 9.

The FBI said police found weapons and a possible explosive device in the car, and two possible explosive devices were found in the French Quarter and rescued.

The FBI said in a statement that an ISIS flag was found on the rental car, prompting an investigation into possible links to terrorist organizations.

She is not solely responsible

“We do not believe Jabbar is solely responsible. We are aggressively pursuing all leads, including those of his known associates,” FBI Assistant Special Agent Alithea Duncan told reporters.

When asked how many potential accomplices the FBI was looking into, she said they were “a group of suspects” and urged anyone who had been in contact with Jabbar in the past 72 hours to contact authorities.

CNN and the Associated Press had reported that surveillance video showed three men and a woman placing an explosive device in the French Quarter, but the law enforcement sources they cited later retracted that conclusion, saying it was unclear what What the people in the video were hiding. finished.

The FBI, the lead investigator in the case, said it and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were conducting an operation in a north Houston neighborhood in an area that matched one of Jabbar’s known residences.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that investigators found writings on the suspect that the FBI believes support the view that the car attack was inspired by ISIS.

ISIS – often called the Islamic State or ISIS – is a militant Islamist group that once imposed a reign of terror on millions of people in Iraq and Syria until it collapsed after a sustained military campaign by the US-led coalition.

Public records show that Jabbar worked in real estate in Houston. In a promotional video posted four years ago, Jabbar describes himself as born and raised in Beaumont, a city about 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Houston, saying he spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as a human resources and information technology specialist.

An Army spokesman said Jabbar was in the regular Army from March 2007 until January 2015 and then in the Army Reserve from January 2015 until July 2020. He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010 and attained the rank of staff sergeant at the end of his service.

“Screams and debris”

Mike and Kimberly Strickland of Mobile, Alabama, said they were in New Orleans for a concert and returned to their hotel, just 20 yards from where the truck hit some pedestrians.

“There were people everywhere,” Kimberly Strickland said in an interview. “I just heard this squealing and the engine revving and this huge powerful impact and then people screaming and debris – just metal – the sound of grinding metal and bodies.”

Police said about 400 officers were on duty in the French Quarter at the time of the incident, including a number of officers who set up a temporary barricade to prevent anyone from driving into the pedestrian area.

“This is not just an act of terrorism, it is evil,” Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters. She added that two police officers were shot and are in stable condition.

In response to vehicular attacks on pedestrian malls around the world, New Orleans was in the process of removing and replacing steel barriers known as barricades that restrict vehicular traffic in the Bourbon Street area.

Construction began in November and was scheduled to be completed in time for the Super Bowl, officials said. Meanwhile, police vehicles and officers attempted to provide a barrier, Kirkpatrick said.

“This particular terrorist drove his car onto the sidewalk and passed the difficult target,” Kirkpatrick said.

While mass shootings are a more common threat in the United States, vehicular rammings have been used to kill civilians in the United States and around the world.

Last month in Germany, a 50-year-old man was charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder after police said he plowed his car into crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and wounding dozens.