At least nine people were wounded in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in the US state of Minnesota, before the suspected attacker was shot dead by police, officials say.
The attack happened in St Cloud, 70 miles (110km) north-west of Minneapolis. The motive is unclear.
The suspected attacker reportedly made references to Allah before he was killed.
So-called Islamic State said he was one of their “soldiers”.
Though the law enforcement agencies have not yet disclosed the name of the assaillant, the Somali community leaders in St. Cloud held a pro-active press conference this afternoon, denouncing and condemming the act of terrorism. This supports the speculations that the dead assailant is out of the more than 50, 000 Somali/ American immigrant population in the St. Cloud community.
The community are unified in ther condemmnation and are deeply concerned by fear of reprisal from anti-muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment populance in the community as a result of the incident.
The Somali immigrant communit in Minnesotta have been targeted by various terrorist groups, including ISIS and Al Shabaab an al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia as a recruitment source. As a result, several Somalian youth have been recruited into these terrorist organizations and many have been killed as a result.
None of the injuries suffered by the victims were life-threatening, local police said.
An off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction shot and killed the suspect, said St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was said to have been wearing the uniform of a private security firm when the attack occurred.
The attacker asked at least one person if they were Muslim, Mr Anderson said, adding police “will be diligent and get to the bottom of this”.
He said police have no evidence to believe more than one person was involved in the attack.
The media arm of IS said in a statement that the attacker had carried out the operation “in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”
