The radical Islamic State group, which once imposed a reign of terror over millions of people in Syria and Iraq, has been implicated in the New Orleans truck attack.
A total of 15 people have been killed in the New Year’s Day attack.
Officials have not yet released the names of the 15 people killed in the New Orleans New Year’s Day truck attack, but their families and friends have started sharing their stories. New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that they will release the names of the dead once autopsies are complete and they’ve talked with the next of kin. At least 35 people were injured.
The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas who once served in Afghanistan, was flying an Islamic State flag during the assault.
U.S. President Joe Biden said that the FBI reported to him that Jabbar had posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by Islamic State.
Following are facts about the movement, considered by analysts to be more violent and extremist than al Qaeda.
The Islamic State group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntland a day earlier, the group posted on its Telegram channel.
In its statement, Islamic State said the attack was conducted by 12 militants and two booby-trapped vehicles, adding that it killed more than 20 military personnel from the Puntland forces and injured dozens of others.
Though largely crushed by a U.S.-led coalition several years ago, IS has managed some major attacks while seeking to rebuild.
They include an assault on a Russian concert hall in March 2024, killing at least 143 people, and two explosions that killed nearly 100 people in the Iranian city of Kerman in January.
It also claimed responsibility for an assault by suicide attackers on a mosque in Oman last year, killing at least nine people.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that Islamic State will try to re-establish capabilities in Syria after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad but said that the United States is determined not to let that happen.
Aside from its bloody operations in the Middle East, Islamic State has also inspired lone wolf attacks in the West.
In August 2024 authorities said that a 19-year-old Austrian suspected of masterminding a planned attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna had vowed allegiance to the leader of Islamic State.
