Man who shot cop is IS sympathiser, say police

New York: A self-professed sympathiser of the Islamic State extremist group shot and seriously wounded a police officer in Philadelphia, opening fire at least 11 times with a stolen weapon, police said on Saturday.

Police officer Jesse Hartnett, 33, was hit three times in the arm as he sat in his patrol car when the 30-year-old IS-sympathiser opened fire at point-blank range using a weapon stolen from police in October 2013.

"He pledges his allegiance to Islamic State, follows Allah and that is the reason he was called upon to do this," Philadelphia police Captain James Clark told a news conference. Richard Ross, police commissioner of the northeastern US city, said he was "absolutely amazed" that Hartnett had survived the attack.