NEW YORK, NOV 01 (DNA) – A pickup driver killed eight people in New York on Tuesday, mowing down cyclists and pedestrians, before striking a school bus in the city’s first deadly attack blamed on terror since September 11, 2001.

Eleven others were seriously hurt when the truck driver struck in broad daylight just blocks from the 9/11 Memorial, on the West Side of Lower Manhattan, close to schools as children and their parents geared up to celebrate Halloween.

What we know so far

8 killed, 11 wounded in truck attack

Suspect identified as Uzbek citizen, 29

NY mayor says the attack was an ‘act of terror’

Trump orders stepping up of vetting programme of foreigners

“This was an act of terror and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Television networks identified the 29-year-old as an Uzbek citizen living in Florida who had recently been staying in New Jersey, where the truck was rented.

President Donald Trump denounced him as “very sick” and a “deranged person”.