Islamic State Claims Responsibility For NYC Vehicle Attack

Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Lennihan/AP Mark Lennihan/AP

Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET

The Islamic State is claiming responsibility for Tuesday's vehicle attack in New York City that killed eight people and injured a dozen others.

The extremist group did not provide evidence of its involvement in the attack, but in a weekly issue of its Al-Naba newsletter, it claims that "the attacker is one of the caliphate's soldiers."

Sayfullo Saipov, 29, was shot by police but survived the attack in which law enforcement officials say he drove a rented truck through a group of pedestrians and cyclists in Manhattan. Authorities in New York say they found a note near the scene that was written in Arabic and expressed an affinity for ISIS.

In the statement in Al-Naba, ISIS said, "Thank God this operation has caused a state of panic in crusader America, leading it to take more security measures regarding immigrants to America."

NPR's Greg Myre notes that it is unusual for ISIS to make claims of responsibility in this weekly newsletter — it's more common for the claims to be disseminated through its Amaq news agency or on Telegram, an encrypted messaging service.

It's also worth noting that ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks where the attacker has merely expressed sympathies in line with the militant group's propaganda, as well as attacks that it has directly orchestrated.

Saipov, a native of Uzbekistan and a legal resident of the U.S., was charged Wednesday in federal court with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

As NPR's Camila Domonoske reported earlier: