Minnesota mall stabbing: Attacker named by father

Crossroads Center in Minnesota, where eight people were stabbed on Saturday evening. Credit: NBC News

The man who attacked nine people in a Minnesota shopping centre has been named by his father as Dahir Adan, as police say the incident is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism.

Adan, 22, dressed in a private security uniform and wounded nine people with what looked like a kitchen knife at Crossroads Center on Saturday evening, before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer.

The victims included one woman, seven men, and a 15-year-old girl, none of which are believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries.

Adan was named by his father Ahmed in a conversation with the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and said his son was born in Kenya but was Somali and had lived in the US for 15 years.

Mr Adan said that police told him around 9pm on Saturday that his son had died at the shopping centre, and that police had seized photos and other materials from the family's apartment.

He said he had "no suspicion" that his son may have been involved in terrorist activity, the newspaper reported.

The motive is still unclear but FBI officers said the stabbings were being investigated as a "potential act of terrorism", and so-called Islamic state has claimed responsibility.

Adan is said to have made references to Allah and asked at least one of his victims whether they were Muslim as he carried out his attack at various locations and businesses at the centre.

IS' Amaq news agency said the attack was "in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition", and called the attacker a "soldier of the Islamic State."

The statement made no reference to the bomb blast in New York City, which injured 29 people.

The city's governor said it was an act of terrorism but said there was currently no evidence of a link to international terrorism and groups such as IS.

Minnesota has America's largest Somali community, and community leaders united on Sunday to condemn the stabbings.

They said that Adan does not represent them, and said they feared a backlash.