(MENAFN- Gulf Times) US Air Force airman Spencer Stone, one of the three Americans who thwarted a train attack in France in August, was stabbed in Sacramento early yesterday and was in stable condition at a California hospital, air force officials said.
"At approximately 1am, airman first class Stone was involved in a stabbing incident in Sacramento," air force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said in a statement. "He was transported to a local hospital and is in stable condition."
Sacramento police said in a statement that a man was stabbed multiple times in the upper body during an altercation in the city early on Thursday, but did not give the man's name.
Stone and two friends, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, who is part of the Oregon Army National Guard, subdued a gunman on a high-speed train bound for Paris in August, winning accolades from the presidents of France and the United States.
The three men, who grew up in the area of California's capital city, were touring Europe, partly to celebrate Skarlatos' return from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, when they took down the man armed with a box-cutter, a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle.
Stone was briefly hospitalised in France for cuts the attacker inflicted on him.
In the latest incident, local television station KCRA reported that Stone, was stabbed in the midtown section of Sacramento.
Sacramento police confirmed a stabbing had occurred early yesterday in the midtown section. A police spokeswoman said alcohol may have been involved in the incident.
A man was with a group of friends when, during a physical altercation, he was stabbed multiple times in the upper body, police said in a statement.
"The Sacramento police department respects the identity of all crime victims and appreciates your patience as we work to provide you with further details," the police statement said.
No one has been arrested in connection with the stabbing, police said.
Stone, who works in a medical unit, had been stationed in the Azores but recently was transferred to Travis Air Force Base about 64km southwest of Sacramento, air force spokeswoman captain Brooke Brzozowske said. He has been slated for a promotion to staff sergeant, she said.
Stone, Sadler and Skarlatos were honored with a parade through Sacramento last month.
FBI counterterrorism investigators followed "dozens and dozens" of potential militants around the United States full time during the summer and "disrupted" many of them, FBI director James Comey told a congressional committee yesterday.
Comey, who testified before the senate committee on Homeland Security and governmental affairs along with Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said US investigators are aware of dozens of US-based Islamic militant suspects who now are using encrypted communications.
Comey said investigators had followed "dozens and dozens of people around the United States 24/7" during the summer and had "disrupted" them.
Comey told the committee that Islamic State recruits from the United States are incrementally younger with more "girls €women under 18" - seeking to join the militant group.
Rasmussen testified that Islamic State has overtaken al Qaeda as leader of the global violent extremist movement and has access to a large pool of potential recruits in Western countries.
He said counterterrorism experts still regard al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate AQAP as big threat due to its interest in attacking the United States and airplanes.
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