Who are Islamic State? Is Isis back after New Orleans attack?
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A US army veteran who killed 15 people as he drove into a crowd in New Orleans said before the New Year’s Eve attack that he was inspired by the Islamic State (Isis) group. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US citizen from Texas, said in videos he posted on social media that he wanted to kill the American president, Joe Biden.
The attack came the same day that a man died when his Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel in an incident that is still being investigated. Some of the New Orleans victims have now been named, with an aspiring nurse, a mother of a four-year-old, and a college football star said to be among the dead.
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The attack is the deadliest IS-inspired assault on US soil in years and the latest example of a vehicle being used as a weapon to carry out mass violence. Mr Biden condemned the attack in an address to reporters at Camp David but, going into 2025, it reaffirms the threat of the terror group and those inspired by it.
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Islamic State, also known as Isis and sometimes Daesh, reigned terror in Syria and Iraq at the height of its power from 2014-2017. Its "caliphate" held sway over a wide area, imposing death and torture on opponents of its radical brand of Islam. It also destroyed ancient monuments in Palmyra, Syria.
![[New Orleans truck ramming: Attacker named as US Army veteran after FBI says IS flag, possible explosives found]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/01/14/16/US-CRIME-ATTACK-fpovxusd.jpeg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Its fighters repeatedly defeated both countries' armies and carried out, or inspired, attacks in dozens of cities around the world. Its then leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, killed in 2019 by US special forces in north-western Syria, rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims.
![[Shamsud-Din Jabbar: What we know about New Orleans terror suspect]](https://static.standard.co.uk/2025/01/02/6/45/This-undated-passport-photo-provided-by-the-FBI-on-Wednesday-Jan--1-2025-shows-Shamsud-Din-Bahar-Jab.jpeg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
