Jihadist knifes students after driving into them at Ohio State University

Ohio State University was plunged into mayhem on Monday after a jihadist plowed his car into a group of pedestrians on campus. The 18-year old Somali-born attacker then proceeded to stab people with a butcher knife before a police officer intervened and killed the attacker.

Eleven people were injured.

Police said they were investigating the use of a vehicle to kill pedestrians and stabbing as a terrorist attack by Abdul Razak Ali Artan. The FBI has joined the investigation.

In a new magazine issued by the Islamic State recently, lone jihadists were encouraged to use knives and sharp objects “widely available” as weapons of a jihad stabbing campaigns.

ISIS’ Al-Hayat Media Center issued the second issue of its magazine Rumiyah, meaning Rome, in English, Turkish, German, French, Indonesian, Russian, Arabic and Uyghur, PJ Media reported on October 4.

In the first issue of Rumiyah, jihadists were advised to target educational facilities.

The Ohio attacker was born in Somalia and was legally a permanent US resident, according to a US official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the case and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity. He said Artan was not known to the FBI.

A series of tweets from the university warned about an “active shooter” on campus, but was prompted by what turned out to be police gunfire. Students were asked to “Run Hide Fight” as law enforcement and ambulances converged on campus, and authorities blocked off roads.

The initial tweet from Ohio State emergency officials read: “Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College.”

Ohio State University police Chief Craig Stone, speaking to AP, said the assailant deliberately drove his Honda into a crowd outside an engineering classroom building and then began knifing people.

A campus officer who had been nearby, shot the jihadist in less than a minute after the attack had started, Stone said.

#Somali suspect in #Ohio State University attackhttps://t.co/aQTAAwl8aY pic.twitter.com/xOPCwUFUTI

— AlBawaba EG (@AlBawabaEG) November 28, 2016

Columbus police Chief Kim Jacobs, confirmed that they were considering it was a terrorist act: “I think we have to consider that it is.”

Republican Vice President-elect Mike Pence called the episode “a tragic attack” and said “our prayers are with them all”.

In September, a 20-year-old Somali-born American stabbed 10 people at a St. Cloud, Minnesota, shopping mall before being killed an off-duty officer. Authorities said the attacker had asked some of his victims if they were Muslim. Recently knife attacks blamed on extremists, have happened in the UK as well as Germany.

The bloodshed came as many students in a boyant mood, were returning after the Thanksgiving break and Ohio State’s football victory over rival Michigan.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day after the attack.