Today's Edition
Washington (dpa)
The attacker in the New Orleans car-ramming had a remote detonator for explosives in his vehicle, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday in an update on the incident.
Biden said the FBI had told him that the assailant acted alone and that he was the one who placed explosives in coolers at other locations in the French Quarter a few hours before the terrorist act.
FBI sees no connection to Las Vegas explosion
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas cautioned against drawing connections between the attack in New Orleans and the explosion of an electric car in Las Vegas due to some similarities.
The two men behind the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks had both been in the military and they had both rented the vehicles used in the attacks from the same platform.
The New Orleans attacker served in the US Army and was subsequently retained as a reservist for years, while the Las Vegas suspect, who died in the explosion, was an active soldier.
"This does not necessarily establish a connection between the two events," said Mayorkas in an interview with CNN when asked about the parallels. "I think we don't yet know enough."
FBI investigators had previously also stated that the federal police currently see no connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of the Tesla Cybertruck.
Biden also emphasised this, but said the investigations would continue to determine if there is any connection between the incidents.
