Attacker ‘hated’ US, says FBI man
KNIFE INCIDENT TREATED AS ACT OF TERRORISM Security officer wounded as he fought to subdue man.
Aknife attack on a Michigan airport police officer on Wednesday by a man yelling “Allahu Akhbar” is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.
The stabbing at Bishop International Airport, in the city of Flint, comes amid a wave of jihadist-inspired attacks in Europe, most recently a foiled bomb assault at a train station in Belgium.
US officials identified the suspected assailant, who is in custody, as a 49-year-old Canadian resident from Quebec named Amor Ftouhi. “We’re investigating this incident today as an act of terrorism,” FBI special agent David Gelios said.
Ftouhi was seen lingering with luggage around a second-floor restaurant and a bathroom, before pulling out a 12-inch serrated-blade knife, yelling “Allahu Akbar” [“God is greatest”] in Arabic – and stabbing an officer in the neck, police said.
He also expressed “hatred for the United States” during questioning in custody, Gelios said.
The injured officer was identified as Jeff Neville, a 16-year airport police force veteran.
Neville wrestled Ftouhi to the ground until others could arrest him, police said. He was hospitalised and is in a stable condition.
No passengers were harmed in Wednesday’s assault, Bishop International officials said. The airport was evacuated and remained closed until 5pm.
Ftouhi faces charges of committing an act of violence at an airport, and is expected to appear at a federal court in Flint.
The stabbing comes the day after a suspect with apparent jihadist sympathies set off a bomb in a foiled attack at a Brussels train station.
A day earlier in Paris, a suspected Islamist on a terror watch list rammed a car laden with weapons into a police vehicle, and a man drove a van into a group of Muslims near a mosque in Finsbury, London.
In this latest incident, the FBI’s Gelios said the Flint attacker was unknown to authorities.
“Preliminary indications are we had no visibility on this individual,” he said. – AFP