The Islamic State claimed responsibility late Thursday for the terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan two days earlier that killed eight people and wounded a dozen more.

The statement was issued in the group’s weekly newsletter and called Tuesday’s rampage “one of the most prominent attacks targetting Crusaders in America.”

It describes the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, 29, as a “soldier of the Caliphate” and goes on to say that the attack was carried out in response to the group’s call to target “citizens of the Crusader countries involved in the alliance against the Islamic State.”

It was an uncharacteristically late claim for a group that in the past year has typically issued its statements within the first 24 hours after an attack. It was also not released through the Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency, which is usually the first to carry such statements. And it marks a break with the usual pattern of not claiming responsibility for an attack when a suspect is in custody.