A man suspected of killing eight people and injuring at least 11 more in a truck attack in New York left a note pledging allegiance to Islamic State, US media has reported.

Officials have said they discovered the note, which one officer said was written in a foreign language, in the truck which Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov allegedly drove through a busy Manhattan cycle route on Tuesday afternoon.

The 29-year-old reportedly drove 14 blocks before crashing into a school bus and jumping from the rented truck with two replica guns.

US media reported the suspected shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest” after getting out of the vehicle.

He was then shot in the abdomen by police and is expected to survive after undergoing surgery.

Authorities speaking under anonymity have revealed that Saipov, who worked as a truck and Uber driver, was an Uzbekistan national who entered the US legally in 2010. He had lived in Tampa, Florida, and New Jersey.

Family friend, Dilnoza Abdusamatova, told the Cincinnatti Enquirer that he was a “really calm” person who “wouldn’t go to parties or anything.”

“He only used to come home and rest and leave and go back to work,” he said.

Of the eight people killed in the attack, the majority are foreign nationals, with five belonging to the same group from the Argentinian city of Rosario.

The friends were visiting New York as part of a 30th anniversary school reunion when they were killed, the country’s foreign ministry said.

Accounts of the incident described a street littered with mangled bicycles and bodies that were quickly covered with sheets after the arrival of scores of police officers.

Witnesses said some at first thought the attack to be a Halloween prank.

Sky News US Correspondent Hannah Thomas-Peter, who is in Washington, said police sources have said some of those injured may have been unable to get out of the way because they were wearing headphones while cycling.