US airman arrested for attempted murder in Italy

Pordenone (Italy), April 12 (IANS/AKI) A US airman is in prison for attempted murder after a savage knife attack against a female colleague at NATO's Aviano air base in northeast Italy, police said on Wednesday.

US authorities were to request custody of the 19-year-old airman after the attack on the 21-year-old woman.

In the attack, which took place at around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, the airman allegedly stabbed the woman in the throat, face and arm as she slept in a dormitory, according to police.

The airman only halted the attack when the woman woke up and began screaming. He confessed the attack to police, saying he did not know why he had knifed the woman, who claimed not to know the airman.

The woman was given first aid by other personnel at the base and was taken to the emergency room of a hospital in the nearby city of Pordenone, where doctors said her injuries would take 15 days to heal.

The US Air Force has also opened an investigation into the attack.

--IANS/AKI

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