At least 15 killed in US car attack, what is known about the suspect

At least 15 people have been killed and 35 injured after a truck ploughed into a crowd celebrating New Year's Eve in New Orleans, Louisiana, at around 3:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

The incident occurred on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter party area.

The country's federal investigation agency, the FBI, is investigating it as a 'terrorist attack'.

This area of ​​New Orleans is famous for its nightlife. At the time of the incident, the street in the French Quarter was full of tourists and locals celebrating New Year's Eve.

The FBI said the driver of the truck was 42-year-old Shamsuddin Jabbar. He is a US citizen and a resident of Texas. He was a former member of the US Army.

CBS News quoted a witness as saying that the driver broke through the barricade and drove the pickup truck at high speed into the crowd, got out of the truck and started shooting.

Police returned fire to control the situation. The suspect was killed in the exchange of fire with police.

Two police officers were among the injured, the FBI said, who were shot by the suspect. They are in stable condition.

A witness described the horrific scenes that followed the car attack in the crowd.

Whit Davis told the BBC: "We were at a bar on Bourbon Street in the early evening. At first we didn't hear any gunshots or car crashes because the music was playing so loud, then suddenly we saw people running around and hiding under tables. It seemed like someone was shooting indiscriminately."

Police later locked them inside the bar and when they came out they found bodies lying in the street.

"Everyone was in total shock. I go to New Orleans a lot and I've never seen anything this horrific before."

A hotel employee working near the scene in New Orleans said he heard a loud bang just before 3:20 a.m. local time.

"We were in our room and looked out the window and saw a lot of bodies on the ground," he told CBS News. He saw the pickup truck speeding away and ran downstairs to help.

"We took some people to the hotel for help and it was a terrible situation."

"About 35 to 40 minutes later, a bomb alert came in and the hotel was evacuated," he said.

The FBI had previously said it had found explosive devices at the scene and was checking to see if they were "activated."

Many videos from the scene that have been circulating on social media show people lying injured in the street.

Many videos show gunshots and people running away.