Michigan airport attacker remanded in custody

The suspect in a Michigan airport stabbing attack was remanded in custody after appearing before a US magistrate judge.

Amor Ftouhi, a Canadian resident of Tunisian origin, consented to detention during a brief hearing in Flint on Wednesday, where the Bishop International Airport is located, Xinhua news agency reported.

He arrived at the airport in Michigan State last Wednesday morning and stabbed a police officer on duty in the neck with a 30-cm knife, while yelling "Allahu Akbar", or "Allah is the greatest" in English.

Ftouhi 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.

Authorities said the suspect who traveled to the United States legally from Canada on June 16, attempted to buy a gun in the US but failed.

FBI has treated the incident as a "lone-wolf" terrorist attack.

Ftouhi is being held in federal custody on a charge of violence at an international airport, which is a 20-year felony. Additional charges are likely, said law enforcement officials.

If he is indicted, the case will probably go to a federal court, not before a magistrate, officials were quoted as saying.

The injured police officer was reportedly released from hospital on Monday after treatment.

--IANS

vgu/