(CNN) The man accused of killing eight people after driving a truck onto a New York bike path is a "soldier of the caliphate," the ISIS terror group said without providing evidence to back up its claim. Add Interest 
 
 "On Tuesday, 11 Safar, one of the soldiers of the Islamic State attacked a number of crusaders on a street in New York City, close to the monument for the 9/11 raid, which resulted in killing and wounding more than 60 crusaders, and unto Allah is all praise," the newsletter said in a translation by SITE Intelligence Group, a company that tracks extremist groups. ISIS just claimed the Degenerate Animal who killed, and so badly wounded, the wonderful people on the West Side, was "their soldier." The attack, allegedly carried out by Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov, actually killed eight people and wounded 12 others, according to the NYPD. Suspect's link to ISIS 
 
 Suspect Saipov has told authorities that watching ISIS videos inspired him to carry out this week's attack and that he closely followed the terror group's playbook, according to a federal criminal complaint. At a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill commended Nash because he “stopped the carnage moments after it began.” 
 
 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio thanked the NYPD, “starting with the officer [Nash] who stopped this tragedy from continuing.”  A New York City police officer used deadly force to stop a terror suspect Tuesday but did not kill him, raising possible questions about the final moments of an attack that killed eight people and injured 13. He had about 90 videos and 3,800 images on a cell phone featuring ISIS propaganda, including video of a beheading, according to the criminal complaint. "He was happy that he was here, he had a family here, and he was a truck driver and his business was really good," said Makhina Kadirova, a childhood friend.
– New York City terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov was allegedly quick to reference ISIS, while the militant group stayed mum. That's changed. Reuters reports the Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday in its own Al-Naba paper for the attack, saying that the 29-year-old is "one of the caliphate soldiers." Although investigators are still looking into Saipov's background, the criminal complaint against him says he told officials he was glad he'd carried out the attack, gained inspiration for it by viewing ISIS propaganda clips on his phone, and wanted to put up an ISIS flag in his room at Bellevue Hospital, where he's recovering after being shot in the abdomen by NYPD officer Ryan Nash. CNN reports that ISIS didn't use Saipov's name in its claim and offers no evidence to back that claim up, including any showing that ISIS helped plan the attack or even knew about it beforehand. The site notes the wording is similar what it used after the Pulse Orlando shooting and a 2016 attack in Nice, France. CNN adds this is the first time ISIS has posted such a claim first in its newspaper rather than via its Amaq News Agency. Per ABC News, the ISIS statement also mentioned that the attack took place "close to the monument for the 9/11 raid" and, oddly, claimed that "60 crusaders" were killed or injured in the Halloween attack; the official count so far is eight dead, around a dozen wounded.