Knifeman who crashed car into airport 'not terrorist'

A TUNISIAN man armed with a knife crashed a stolen vehicle through a window into a departure terminal at Milan's Malpensa airport yesterday, and police shot and wounded him, authorities said.

The attacker was driving with his wife and three young children, and Italian news agencies quoted police chief Marcello Cardona as saying terrorism was not the motive.

Luigi Pagani, a worker at the airport, was changing shifts with a colleague just yards away when the car smashed through a window. "I thought initially it was an accident. It wasn't like they smashed through the window and erupted armed into the terminal," Mr Pagani said.

Giovanni Pepe, head of the airport border police, said the driver was brandishing the knife as he approached a group of police on patrol inside the terminal. One shot the man's foot when he refused to drop it.

The attacker was driving a stolen vehicle carrying his wife and three children, aged five to ten, when he crashed into the airport glass, Mr Pepe said.

Statements by the Tunisian man and his Italian wife made little sense, and failed to explain the action, he added.