At least eight people were wounded, when a man start stabbing at a Minnesota mall. The suspect was killed inside the mall, the police said.

According to the St Cloud Hospital Communications Specialist Chris Nelson, the eight people brought there, seven had injuries that were not life-threatening. No further details were released.

The St Cloud Times reported, "The individual we believe to be responsible for the victims' stab wounds is currently deceased inside the mall," Police Sgt Jason Burke said in a statement.

Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle, Minnesota, who were in St. Cloud to watch their son play in a college golf tournament, said that, "All of a sudden I heard pop pop pop."  "I thought someone tipped over a shelf. All of a sudden these people started running. I just saw everybody running our way."

According to an ISIS-linked news agency, the attacker was a "soldier of the Islamic state."
St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson, said that, "We still don't have anything substantive that would suggest anything more than what we know already, which is this was a lone attacker." "And right now, we're trying to get to the bottom of his motivations."

The FBI is calling the attack "a potential act of terrorism."

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Minnesota, said that, "We are also concerned about the potential backlash."  "We understand in St. Cloud there is more anti-Muslim organizing and we hope they do not use this incident to divide ... our community."

"What's remarkable about this case was that nothing stopped these defendants from plotting their goal," said US Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota.

"They were not confused young men. They were not easily influenced. These are focused men who are intent on joining a terrorist organization by any means possible."

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Nandini