At least eight people were killed and 11 seriously hurt when a man in a rented truck drove down a busy bicycle path on Tuesday near the World Trade Center in New York, media reports said.

A 29-year-old man who emerged from the white pick-up truck with realistic-looking firearms was shot by a police officer and arrested, BBC reported. Officials later said it was a terror attack.

A note was found in the truck that referred to so-called Islamic State, the report said, citing CBS News.

"This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror, aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The suspect was identified by law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov. He is from the central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, who came to the US in 2010, CNN reported, citing sources.