2 days ago
Vehicles used in both the New Orleans and Las Vegas incidents were rented from a platform named Turo. The company confirmed, stating that they could not ascertain any criminal background, indicating they could have been a security threat.
Attacks on Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and New Orleans.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 2, 2025 23:32 IST
Two terror attacks struck the world’s most powerful nation, the United States, in New Orleans, Texas and Las Vegas on the very first day of 2025. The attackers in both cases were former US Army personnel and reportedly served at the same base.
While Samsud-Din Bahar Jabbar drove an electric mini-truck into a crowd, killing 15 and injuring at least 35 others in New Orleans, special forces veteran Matthew Livelsberger blew himself up inside a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a gate of Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
American investigators believe Jabbar wanted to kill as many people as possible and were probing whether both incidents were linked. Both incidents were being treated as an act of terrorism.
Vehicles used in both incidents were rented from a platform named Turo. The company confirmed, stating that they could not ascertain any criminal background, indicating they could have been a security threat.
Both Jabbar and Livelsberger served in roles involving information technology and communications during their stint in the armed forces. They served at the same military base, reported Denver7 channel.
SAMSUD-DIN BAHAR JABBAR
In a now-deleted video, Jabbar said he was born and raised in Texas state.
US media quoted officials to report Jabbar served in the US Army as a Human Resource Specialist and IT Specialist from 2007 until 2015 and then in the Army Reserve as an IT Specialist from 2015 until July 2020. He served in Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
In a video, he introduced himself as a property management operator.
Jabbar attended Georgia State University from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a BBA in computer information systems. A profile on Microsoft Learn appears to show he took courses in data engineering and application development between 2019 and 2023.
In November 2013, the US Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division posted a photo of him on its Facebook page identifying Jabbar as an “information technology team chief”.
A spokesperson said Jabbar enlisted in the US Navy under a different name but was discharged within a month.
A flag of Islamic State (IS), weapons and potential IEDs were recovered from his Ford electric truck after the attack. President Joe Biden told media persons that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) briefed him Jabbar had posted a video before the attack showing intentions to kill people.
The Islamic State group tries to radicalise Muslims using online platforms to commit violent attacks on innocent civilians.
Though his profiles have been taken down from LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube; a comment on GitHub offers some views into his religious inclinations. In 2022, Jabbar requested administrators at Sunnah[.]com – an online platform dedicated to the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad – for access to its Application Programming Interface (API). “I plan to use the API to do research on hadith, make contributions to the sunnah.com website, and explore the semantics of the Quran and Sunnah together with textual analytics,” he wrote on GitHub.
In the past, Jabbar was convicted of theft charges, driving with a suspended licence and other misdemeanours.
He reportedly married twice and filed a petition for divorce in December 2020 from his wife Shaneen with whom he had a child. A petition appears to show a district court in Texas’ Ford Bent country barred Jabbar from meeting their son based on Shaneen’s petition.
MATTHEW LIVELSBERGER
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Livelsberger’s Cybertruck arrived in the city around 7:30 AM on January 1, drove for an hour and pulled into the valet area of the Trump Hotel before the explosion occurred.
The suspect was killed inside the vehicle and seven people suffered injuries in the explosion.
All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.
Not much is known about Livelsberger except for a LinkedIn profile that appears to be his. As per the LinkedIn profile, Livelsberger served in the US army from 2011 till 2024. He served in communication specialist and operation specialist roles focused on technology integration. He graduated from Norwich University in strategic studies and defence analysis between 2016 and 2019.
Published By:
Ashutosh Acharya
Published On:
Jan 2, 2025
