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| At least 12 dead as gunmen attack world's largest military base | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 5 2009, 10:04 PM (19 Views) | |
| Riverwide | Nov 5 2009, 10:04 PM Post #1 |
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At least 12 people were killed and at least 31 injured today in a gun rampage on the world’s largest army base. The mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas involved three suspects in military uniform and immediately raised fears of a co-ordinated attack by terrorists. SWAT teams surrounded a “PX” military supermarket on the sprawling base soon after 1.30pm as the incident unfolded. The military confirmed that one shooter had been killed and two apprehended. Set in hill country in central Texas, Fort Hood is home to about 50,000 soldiers and their families from the US 4th Cavalry Division and 3rd Infantry Division and has deployed more troops to American-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other base. Early reports that the victims included a woman and a child were later revised by officials, who insisted that the incident was “all military”. The gunfire erupted near an auditorium in a “soldier readiness centre” shortly before a graduation ceremony was due to start, according to John Carter, a congressional representative for the area. “I had a man on the scene, who is my regional director and former chaplain at Fort Hood, waiting to go to a graduation ceremony when a soldier came running up to him saying, ‘Sir, don’t go over there. They are . . . somebody is shooting over there,” Mr Carter told MSNBC. “When the soldier ran by him, he saw the soldier didn’t know it, but he was wounded. So, he went into the building and they stopped him, because he had been shot. “He heard small arms and some rifle fire while he was there and that he thought they had one person that they had caught but there may be more, he didn’t know. He understood there was more than one, that was all he said.” The base, midway between Houston and Fort Worth, was closed and schools inside the perimeter put on lockdown as a manhunt was launched for any gunmen still at large. “Effective immediately. Fort Hood is closed,” a message on the base website said. “Organisations/units are instructed to execute a 100 per cent accountability of all personnel. This is not a drill. It is an emergency situation.” News helicopters were kept out of the airspace over Fort Hood but the FBI was reported to be flying to the area within an hour of the tragedy in an indication that officials were preparing to treat it as terrorism. Shootings on American military bases linked to post-traumatic stress disorder are not uncommon but the apparent involvement of possibly as many as three gunmen in a co-ordinated attack pointed to explanations other than PTSD. Five US soldiers died in Baghdad this year in a mass shooting by one of their comrades at one of several combat stress clinics set up by the Pentagon in response to criticism that the US military was not doing enough to treat the psychological effects of repeated combat duty tours on an overstretched army. Most combat troops at Fort Hood have served multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or both since 2001. The shooting occurred at a processing centre used to prepare soldiers for forthcoming war zone deployments and ended with at least one of the gunmen being wounded, according to a general on the base who briefed Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. President Obama was notified of the shooting by Robert Gibbs, his Press Secretary, as estimates of the number of wounded crept up today afternoon. Senator Hutchinson issued a statement saying that she was “shocked and saddened” by such a sickening outburst of violence. “This is a base that has sent so many soldiers time after time after time to Iraq as well as Afghanistan,” she later told MSNBC. “To have this happen at this base is really heartbreaking.” Fort Hood is the only army base in the US able to accommodate two full armoured divisions. Described as a world unto itself, it has multiple schools, cinemas and suburbs as well as some of the country’s most extensive firing ranges and training facilities. |
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| Frédéric | Nov 5 2009, 10:08 PM Post #2 |
Kultur
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Most combat troops at Fort Hood have served multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or both since 2001. Sad. 
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2:15 PM Nov 29
