Islamic State (Isis) have claimed responsibility for a stabbing attack in a Minnesota shopping mall on Saturday (17 September) in which eight people were injured.

A lone man, dressed in a private security uniform, entered the Crossroads Centre in St Cloud around 8pm local time (1am BST, the following morning) and went on the stabbing spree before being shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.

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The man reportedly made references to Allah before he was shot. IS (Daesh) have now said the man was one of their "soldiers".

"The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota was a soldier of IS and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition," a source said to the IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency.

Eight people were taken to St Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the attack.

Seven of the wounded were treated and released, while one victim remains in hospital, according to CNN reports.

The stabbings took place in several places within the mall, including shops and common areas. The entire mall remained cordoned off for some time after the attack.

Sydney Weires was shopping at the mall with her friends at the time of the attack. "I saw this security guard sprinting down the hallway toward Target," she told St Cloud Times.

"He was yelling, 'Call the cops! Call the cops!' We saw these two guys. One guy was bleeding from the side of his face. They were just drenched."

St Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson held a press conference shortly after the attacker was killed. At the time, he refused to call the attacks an act of terrorism, saying the motive was not yet known, according to CNBC.

He said: "We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this. Starting tomorrow, things won't be the same here."

The identity of the man has yet to be released. However he was known to police. He had three previous encounters with police, mostly for minor traffic violations, none of which resulted in any arrests.

St Cloud is 70 miles (112km) north-west of Minneapolis. The Crossroads Centre shopping mall is expected to reopen on Monday according to its Facebook page.

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