US authorities say the New Orleans attacker traveled to Egypt and Canada Crime news

Law enforcement officials say a U.S. Army veteran visited the city twice in the months before the truck attack.

Authorities in the United States are investigating the possible significance of foreign trips taken by the man responsible for driving a truck into New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, law enforcement officials said.

Shams al-Din Jabbar, a US Army veteran who declared his support for ISIS in videos posted online before the attack, visited Egypt and Canada in the summer of 2023, an FBI official said on Sunday.

“Our agents are getting answers about where he went, who he met, and how those trips may or may not be connected to his actions in our city,” Lionel Merthel, special agent in charge of the bureau’s New Orleans field office, told reporters. .

Officials said Jabbar also made at least two trips to New Orleans in October and November.

On his first visit, he rode a bicycle around the city’s French Quarter, where the attack was carried out, while recording the scene with Meta smart glasses, according to police.

Myrtle said that Jabbar was wearing glasses, but did not turn them on when he carried out the New Year’s attack, which killed 14 people and injured 35 others.

FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raya said all evidence indicates that Jabbar, an American citizen, acted alone in carrying out the attack, although investigators are looking into his contacts inside and outside the United States.

“We have not seen any indications of a partner in the United States, but we are still looking for potential partners in the United States and outside our borders,” Raya told reporters.

Jabbar drove a rented pickup truck around a barricade and sped off down the famous Bourbon Street before he was shot and killed by police officers, according to authorities.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit New Orleans with First Lady Jill Biden on Monday to offer his condolences to the victims of the attack.