‘New Orleans attacker had a remote IED detonator in his vehicle’: US President Joe Biden

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday (local time) informed that the New Orleans attacker had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that he planted in the ice coolers in the French Quarter before ramming his car into the crown on Bourbon street.

The FBI has recovered the two IEDs that the attacker, Shamsud Din Jabbar, placed in the coolers, CNN reported. “They’ve established that the attacker is the same person who planted the explosives in those ice coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter just a few hours before he rammed into the crowd with his vehicle. They assessed he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off those two ice chests,” Biden said.

Biden has also told reporters gathered in the White House’s East Room that he’ll try to travel to New Orleans, CNN reported. Meanwhile, the US President informed that 15 people, including the attacker, have been killed in the New Orleans attack on New Year’s night.

Pres. Biden provides update following the New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans.

“People of New Orleans are sending an unmistakable message: they will not let this attack or the attacker’s deluded ideology overcome us.” https://t.co/eJjPlatVzE pic.twitter.com/x6l8rSJeuF

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 2, 2025

The FBI has established that the attacker, who carried out this “act of terrorism,” was an ISIS supporter. An ISIS flag was found in his vehicle and the suspect had admitted his support in a series of videos he posted online.

Biden reassured that the US will relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organisation. “We are going to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organisations where they are and they will find no safe husher here,” Biden said.

Moreover, speaking about the possible connection between the New Orleans attack and the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion, Biden said that the investigation is still going on, however, no evidence of such a connection has been found thus far.

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas killing one person and injuring seven others. The vehicles used in both incidents were rented from a car rental site, ‘Turo’, prompting authorities to look for links between the two events, CNN reported. (ANI)