In New York, Terrorists' Tactic of Choice Strikes Near Scene of 9/11

Peter Bergen wrote for CNN about the use of vehicles by terrorists, as in the recent attack in Manhattan:

On Tuesday, a 29-year-old Uzbek national committed the first deadly terrorist attack in Manhattan since two planes, hijacked by members of al Qaeda, destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The attacker, identified to CNN by law enforcement sources as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, is accused of renting a truck and using it to mow down bicyclists in lower Manhattan, a few blocks from the rebuilt trade center. Eight people were killed.

Terrorists, like school shooters, learn from other attacks. And no tactic has spread more quickly among terrorists in the West than the use of trucks and other vehicles to carry out mass casualty attacks.