Friday, March 4, 2011

2 AMERICANS SHOOT DEAD AT GERMAN AIRPORT


FRANKFURT, Germany - Two US servicemen were shot dead at Frankfurt Airport and at least two others seriously injured on Wednesday after a man opened fire on bus for American soldiers. Both US President Obama and German Chancellor Merkel expressed shock and outrage.
Police spokesman Jürgen Linker said the incident occurred at Terminal 2 on a bus used to transport US military personnel. The bus driver and one member of the US Air Force were reportedly killed.
  • The alleged assailant, identified as a 21-year-old Kosovo man, was taken immediately into custody and was being questioned by authorities, said Frankfurt police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt.
  • Family members in Kosovo described the suspect as a devout Muslim, who was born and raised in Germany and worked at the airport.
  • The attacker got into an argument with airmen outside their military bus before opening fire, killing the bus driver and one other serviceman, and wounding two others, one of whom was in life-threatening condition, Fuellhardt said. He said the attacker also briefly entered the bus.
  • The suspect then fled into the airport terminal, where he was quickly grabbed by two federal police officers and a US airman who had pursued him into the building, authorities said. He was disarmed without incident
  • The suspect's uncle, Rexhep Uka, said the suspect's grandfather was a religious leader at a mosque in a village near Mitrovica, and that Arid Uka was a devout Muslim himself.
  • But he said the family was pro-American and was also having a hard time imagining that their nephew was involved..
The victims, part of a group of about a dozen members of an Air Force military police and base security unit, had just arrived from England, the Air Force said.
They had landed at Frankfurt airport, one of Europe's busiest, and were waiting outside Terminal 2 to be driven to nearby Ramstein Air Base, which is often used as a logistical hub for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The two wounded airmen were taken to a hospital.
Source: Agencies

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