A US citizen with an Islamic State flag and “hellbent” on carnage slammed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year revellers in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 35, officials said.

The FBI identified the attacker as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas and an Army veteran. He appeared to have been a real estate agent working in Houston and had served as an IT specialist in the military.

Officials said they were searching for accomplices but gave few details, as US media reported that detectives had reviewed a video appearing to show three men and a woman planting explosive devices before the attack.

Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick described Jabbar as a “terrorist,” while the FBI said “an Isis flag was located in the vehicle,” using another name for the Islamic State armed group.

FBI investigators arrive at the scene where the white Ford F-150 pick-up truck allegedly drove into a crowd of New Year's revellers in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Photo / AFP

“The FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organisations,” the agency said in a statement.

Officials said a manhunt was underway, with FBI agent Alethea Duncan warning that authorities “do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible.”

“We’re hunting some bad people down,” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said.

The suspect was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire with police in the Louisiana city’s famed French Quarter. Two homemade bombs were found and made safe, the FBI said.

Local police said the incident took place at around 3.15am (local time) in the heart of the French Quarter, which was packed with people celebrating the start of 2025.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters.

Driving at “very high speed” and in a “very intentional” manner, “he was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did”, Kirkpatrick said.

The wounded officers were in stable condition and Kirkpatrick said they would recover.

The vehicle used was a white Ford F150 electric pick-up, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.

The New Orleans attack came 10 days after a similar car-ramming assault at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg that killed five and wounded more than 200. Police arrested a Saudi man and said he appeared to be mentally disturbed.

US President Joe Biden called New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell “to offer full federal support following the horrific news”, the White House said.

“There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities,” Biden said.

President-elect Donald Trump immediately linked the attack to illegal immigration, giving no evidence and before authorities made clear the suspect was American.

“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in the country ... it turned out to be true,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump also claimed that the nation’s crime rate “is at a level that nobody has ever seen”. In fact, violent crime is sharply down across the country, according to the FBI.

Like being in a ‘war zone’

Witnesses described terrifying scenes of “insanity” that they likened to being in a “war zone” after the attack.

Zion Parsons, 18, told broadcaster CNN he had gone to the city’s historic French Quarter to celebrate New Year’s Eve, and was now desperately trying to reach a friend who was seriously wounded.

“It was just like a movie. That’s the only way I can explain it,” he said, of the moment the pick-up truck zoomed toward him through the pedestrian-only area.

He said the truck threw bodies in the air in its wake.

“There were bodies and blood and all the trash,” he said, describing scenes of victims crying on the ground in the foetal position after the truck had passed.

“The best way I can describe it is truly a war zone.”

Jimmy Cothran, another witness, told broadcaster ABC he and his friends fled into a building when they heard some sort of commotion.

“When we got on the balcony, what we saw was insanity,” he said. “I mean, something out of a movie. I mean, the graphic nature of it. It was unbelievable.”

He said he counted six people “clearly graphically deceased”, with other victims “yelling with no one around”.

Cothran had no doubt the ramming was intentional, and criticised the lack of barricades to stop vehicles from being able to access the busy area.

US media reported that city authorities had removed the steel barricades that would normally be placed to block traffic around the area as they were being renovated, replacing them with alternative measures.

A white truck crashed through a barricade “at a very high rate of speed”, witness Jim Mowrer told CBS News.

“We were in the middle of the road and managed to run off the road onto the sidewalk and into the doorway of a building for cover. We did hear gunfire, saw police running,” he said.

“Once the gunfire stopped, we stayed in the alcove until the gunfire stopped, came out into the street, and came across a lot of – several people who had been hit, [we] wanted to see what we could do to help,” he said.

“People we came across were unfortunately deceased.”

New Orleans is one of the most heavily visited destinations in the United States and the tragedy came shortly before the city hosts a major football game, known as the Sugar Bowl, featuring teams from the universities of Georgia and Notre Dame.

Policing was heavy over the New Year, according to the city, as authorities braced for big crowds.

The city police department had announced staffing at “100%, with an additional 300 officers assisting from partner law enforcement agencies”. including on horseback and using unmarked units.

The iconic French Quarter listed special deals for New Year’s, including LGBTQ parties and a drag cabaret nearby where the attack happened.