The president of America's National Day of Prayer, senior Southern Baptist pastor Dr Ronnie Floyd, has called on pastors and churches in the US to pray for victims of yesterday's attack in Manhattan, New York.
'Today every pastor in every church in America must pray for everyone affected by last night's act of terror in New York City. We must pray specially for the families of the eight people who lost their lives and for those who were injured, for they will bear the physical and psychological scars of this terrible attack for the rest of their lives,' he said. 'Let's pray with genuine faith and conviction, remembering the hope we have in Jesus, who said to us, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."'
Of the eight people who died when Sayfullo Saipov is believed to have driven a truck into people on a cycle path in Lower Manhattan, it has emerged five were from a group of nine friends visiting the city from Argentina to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation from the same college. One of the men who died, Ariel Erlij, helped pay for the trip. Another victim was Anne-Laure Decadt (31), from Staden in Flanders, Belgium; three other Belgians were wounded.
The incident is being treated as a 'lone wolf' terrorist attack. According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, was 'radicalised domestically' in the US.
'The evidence shows – and again, it's only several hours, and the investigation is ongoing – but that after he came to the United States is when he started to become informed about ISIS and radical Islamic tactics,' he said.
'This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them,' New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Another US pastor, Greg Laurie, founder of Harvest America and a nationally syndicated radio host, said: 'Our nation has been touched by yet another barbaric act of terrorism. This time eight lives have been taken from us and a dozen more injured, only blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. Today we mourn the senseless loss of life and the attack on our way of life, but we must never allow violence and hatred of this kind to shake us from the foundations of our faith. As Christians, we take heart, knowing that in the end all evil will be defeated and goodness and love will win the day.'
