Michigan airport attacker failed to buy gun: FBI

The lone-wolf attacker attacker who stabbed a police officer at a Michigan airport in the US unsuccessfully tried to buy a gun, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.

David Gelios, the Detroit-based FBI officer, told a news conference on Thursday that Amor Ftouhi, a dual citizen of Canada and Tunisia, attempted to buy a gun but failed, after he entered the US legally on June 16, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ftouhi came to the Bishop International Airport in Flint, around 80 km from Detroit on Wednesday morning and stabbed a police officer on duty in the neck.

He yelled "Allahu Akbar," before the attack with a 30-centimetre knife.

He also said something like "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan" and "we are all going to die," according to initial accounts from eye witnesses.

The injured officer is said to be recovering after surgery.

Gelios said so far they found no personal connection between the attacker and Flint, suggesting that he chose the airport probably because it is an international one.

The FBI is now investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism, in coordination of the Canadian authorities, but it seems to be a lone-wolf attack.

"We have no information to suspect the attack was part of a wider plot or suspect he was aided or had associates," said Gelios.

Ftouhi made a brief appearance in a US District Court in Flint on Wednesday and was ordered to be held without bail, waiting for his second hearing next week.

--IANS

pgh/