Eight people were killed and 15 OTHERS injured in Manhattan, as a car ploughed into a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial, hitting several people. The assailant then left his vehicle firing an imitation gun while yelling “Allahu Akbar,” according to New York City police.

Complete mayhem broke out Tuesday afternoon in lower Manhattan, as a truck driver deliberately mowed down people while targeting a school bus in what New York Police is now officially investigating as a “terrorist attack.”

The assailant deliberately crashed into a school bus, after many witnesses saw him swerve the truck toward the vehicle that was full of children. According to police officials, four people were removed from the bus with minor injuries, reports CNN.

Witnesses saw the man then leave his truck, carrying two guns that turned out to be imitations and running around screaming “Allahu Akbar” before he was finally shot by the police.

“It happened out of nowhere,” a witness told CNN. “I was walking down the street. It was a normal day, then just out of nowhere I see people running and screaming and just multiple gunshots, one right after another. It was just completely unexpected.”

The witness said he saw a man on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound. He said he saw a second man being taken into police custody.

“He wasn’t putting up a fight,” the witness said. “He was on his knees and had his hands on his head and right next to him was the white pickup truck. It had Home Depot logos on it. The front was entirely smashed in and it had smoke coming out of it.”

The driver was taken to a nearby hospital after he was shot by police.

A U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News that the intelligence community is unaware of any claims of responsibility for the attack at this time. Sources initially said they were responding to a report of at least five people shot, but officials say their investigation now indicates that the injuries came from the truck crash.

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