New Orleans, 1 Jan

A driver wrought carnage on New Orleans' famed French Quarter early on New Year's Day, ramming a pickup truck into a crowd and killing 10 people before being shot to death by police, authorities said.

More than 30 people were injured in the attack, which the FBI is investigating as an "act of terrorism".

The driver was killed in a firefight with police following the attack around 3.15 am Wednesday along Bourbon Street near Canal Street in an area teeming with New Year's revellers, the FBI said.

Investigators were combing the French Quarter for potential explosive devices, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official was not authorised to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said officials were investigating at least one suspected improvised explosive device at the scene.

At a news conference, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the killings as a “terrorist attack” and the city's police chief said the act was clearly intentional.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”  “It was very intentional behaviour. This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” Kirkpatrick said.

After the vehicle stopped, the driver emerged and opened fire on responding officers, police said. Officers returned fire, killing the driver, police said.

Two officers were wounded and are in stable condition, police said. They were in addition to 33 people injured in the vehicle attack. “When I got to work this morning, it was kind of pandemonium everywhere," Derick Fleming, chief bellhop at the nearby Crowne Plaza hotel, told The Associated Press. "There were a couple of bodies on the ground covered up. Police were looking for bombs in garbage cans.”

The area is known as a prime New Year's Eve destination.

Tens of thousands of college football fans were in the city for Wednesday night's Sugar Bowl playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame at the nearby Superdome. The stadium was on lockdown Wednesday morning, but the game was expected to be played as scheduled.

Both schools expressed condolences to the victims and said they were working with law enforcement to determine if any students, employees or alumni were harmed.