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US president, Donald Trump, has said that he will consider sending Sayfullo Saipov, who carried out an attack that saw a truck driven down a cycle lane in Lower Manhattan, hitting cyclists and pedestrians and killing 8 people and injuring 11, to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"Send him to Gitmo — I would certainly consider that, yes," he said, adding "We need quick justice, and we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger than we have right now, because what we have right now is a joke, and it's a laughing stock, and no wonder so much of this stuff takes place."
The 29-year-old, slim, bearded man, crashed into a school bus and was heard chanting "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great" as he ran pointing his pellet gun along with a paintball gun when he was shot in the abdomen by an NYPD officer.
Investigators have found little pieces of handwritten notes next to the truck, and are saying he might be in allegiance with the Islamic State. They are currently referring to the attacker as "inspired," New York Times reported.
Saipov came to the United States in 2010, and has a green card that allows him permanent residency in the country, he has lived in New Jersey and Florida. He hired the truck from a Home Depot in New Jersey, where he is believed to have parked his vehicle, a Toyota minivan.
"Based on information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians." NY mayor, Bill De Blasio said during a news conference.
Five of the eight people who died were Argentine tourists who had traveled to New York City for their 30-year high school reunion celebration.
One of the witnesses, Sirus Minovi, 14, a freshman, who was in the area with friends, saw people scatter.
"We heard people screaming, ‘gun’ ‘shooter’ and ‘run away,’"Sirus told the New York Times. "We thought it was a Halloween prank."
Over the course of two years, five men from Uzbekistan and one from Kazakhstan have been investigated by the FBI, NYPD and some federal investigators for their alleged involvement in providing material support to ISIS, according to the New York Times.
The attack has also pointed toward a growing trend of Uzbeks radicalizing. Nearly 12,000 people are in prison for extremism-related activities, according to the Human Rights Watch.
500 Uzbek citizens had traveled to join militants in Syria and Iraq by 2015, the UK-based, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, said.
The rampage has also given Trump an opportunity to assert his anti-Islamic rhetoric and also advocate for his stringent stance on immigration policies. News reports say that he will be responding forcefully to the attack
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