Bolivia News: 11 People Injured In Knife Attack At La Paz Airport

At least 11 people were injured on Thursday when they were attacked by a man with a knife at Bolivia's El Alto airport, which serves the capital La Paz. The attack took place about 07:30 am in the passenger arrivals area of the airfield, according to Bolivian media. An eyewitness told a Radio Erbol the individual was dressed in red and wearing a backpack, and the first person he stabbed was a woman in a shop in the terminal and then continued to attack other people, in some cases from behind.

The attacker has been detained on charges of "attempted murder" for the injuries he caused several people with the knife. The attacker, Javier Virgilio Aduviri Cusi, 40 years old, "was not a passenger of any national or international flight when he assaulted people with a sharp-edged weapon" said a statement from the Servicios Aeroportuarios de Bolivia (SABSA). La Paz police commander, Colonel Edwad Barrientos, told reporters that the circumstances of the incident are still being investigated.

"It must have been a person with serious mental problems," said Bolivian Deputy of the Interior, Jorge Perez, who explained that the attacker "will undergo psychiatric evaluation" before being brought to justice. According to Perez, the incident occurred after the offender received a denial of a request to buy a plane ticket to Chile on a Bolivian airline. The assailant ran several meters "stabbing people in his path," including the police sergeant who arrested him.