An Islamic State-run news agency said that the stabbing attack in a shopping mall in the U.S. state of Minnesota Saturday was carried out by a “soldier of the Islamic State.”
The Amaq news agency claimed Sunday that the suspect had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition. U.S. officials have not commented on the claim.
Minnesota authorities said eight people were wounded in the shopping mall stabbing attack in Saint Cloud.
Police Chief William Blair Anderson said an off-duty police officer shot and killed the suspect.
Anderson said all but one of the victims have been released from the hospital and none of them had life-threatening wounds.
He said the assailant reportedly made references to Allah during the knife attack at the Crossroads Center and asked if one person was a Muslim.
However, Anderson stopped short of calling the attack an act of terrorism, saying the motive was not yet clear. "We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this," he said.
IS has encouraged so-called “lone wolf” attacks, but it has also claimed past attacks that are not believed to have been planned by its central leadership.
Police placed the mall on lockdown after the attack with no one allowed to immediately enter or leave.
Saint Cloud is about 112 kilometers northwest of Minneapolis, the capital city of Minnesota.
Source: VOA
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