Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Attack On U.S. Servicemen First In Germany In 25 Years


Frankfurt – The argument began outside a military bus where a group of MP's fresh in from England were boarding for the short trip to Ramstein Air Base.

A devout Muslim, a native of Kosovo, got into a verbal dispute with the airmen, followed them onto the vehicle and emptied a handgun, killing two and wounding two others. He was employed at the massive international airport, the largest in Germany.

Authorities withheld the names of the victims pending notification of their families.

Only minutes before the group had arrived from Lakenheath airfield, the only F-15 tactical air wing base in the U.K. Ramstein Air Base is a hub of operations for servicemen and supplies bound for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Newsmen at the scene spotted a bullet hole in the driver's window of the bus. They surmised that Mr. Uka must have first immobilized the vehicle by killing the driver, then boarding and picking off his unarmed victims who were trapped in the field of fire of the stalled bus.

It's the first time U.S. servicemen have endured an extremist Muslim attack on German soil since Libyan terrorists bombed a disco in 1986, killing two soldiers, one civilian, and wounding 230 others.

German police thwarted an attack on U.S. faciities by members of the extremist Islamic Jihad Union. Four men planned to attack American soldiers and civilians at Ramstein, but they were caught before they could carry out any of their plans. American troops and their families in Germany were attacked by members of the Red Army faction during the 70's, 80's, and 90's.

Arik Uka was born in Mitrovica, Kosovo, before his family came to Germany. Others in the family said they were shocked at his behavior because the family is pro-American in their sentiments.

Kosovo is still occupied by a NATO force of 8,700 troops from 32 nations. A former province of Yugoslavia, the Albanian Muslim area came under the attack of Orthodox Christian militia in a vicious campaign of “ethnic cleansing” following the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states during the 90's.

Though the U.S. has reduced its military presence in Germany, some 50,000 troops remain there.

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