Frankfurt Airport shooting: Two US servicemen dead

Frankfurt Airport shooting: Two US servicemen dead

Click to play
Advertisement

The BBC's Stephen Evans says details of the incident are "confused"
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

* Germany warns of planned attacks
* Risk of attack remains for Germany

Two US Air Force servicemen have died after a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying American military personnel at Frankfurt Airport, police say.

Two servicemen were also wounded. One of the dead is said to have been the driver. All four were based at RAF Lakenheath in eastern England.

A 21-year-old man from Kosovo was arrested at Terminal 2 close to where the attack took place.

US President Barack Obama condemned it as an "outrageous act".

He said the US would spare no effort in investigating the shootings to "ensure that all the perpetrators are brought to justice".

"I think the American people are united in expressing our gratitude for the service of those who were lost," Mr Obama said.
'Just arrived'
Forensic experts transport what appears to be the covered body of a soldier after an attack on a bus outside Frankfurt airport, Germany, 2 March 2011 The airmen had been on their way to Ramstein air base in Frankfurt

The men had just flown in from Britain and were about to travel to the US military base at Ramstein, a hub for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Two airmen have been killed and two were wounded during a shooting incident today at Frankfurt International Airport," the US Air Forces in Europe said in a statement.

"The names of the deceased are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin. German authorities have the shooter in custody. The incident is currently under investigation," the statement added.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin says that after the shooting, which took place in the middle of the afternoon, the suspected gunman fled into the terminal building, where he was arrested by German police.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

I would like to assure you that the German government will do our utmost to investigate what happened”

End Quote Angela Merkel German Chancellor

Security has been high in German airports in recent months, following what the authorities said was information that a terror attack was planned, but the official threat level was lowered a month ago, our correspondent adds.

Kosovo Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi said in an interview that German police had identified the suspect as a Kosovan citizen from the northern town of Mitrovica.

"This is a devastating and a tragic event. We are trying to find out was this something that was organised or what was the nature of the attack," Mr Rexhepi said, reports AP news agency.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the "terrible incident".

"I would like to assure you that the German government will do our utmost to investigate what happened," she told journalists in Berlin.

Four Islamic militants were convicted in March last year in Germany for plotting to bomb targets including Ramstein Air Base.

Last month the German parliament extended by one year the military mission in Afghanistan. Germany has 4,860 troops there, despite domestic polls suggesting the mission's unpopularity.
Sightline Payments
poker odds

Rikuzentakata fire chief: 'I spend all day looking for the bodies of my firemen'
Continue reading the main story
Japan quake

* A test of Japan's 'stoicism'
* Survivors found after nine days
* Fukushima - disaster or distraction?
* Q&A: Fukushima alert

Electricity has been restored to three reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant wrecked by fire and explosions after the 11 March quake and tsunami.

However the cooling systems are not yet operating, and the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says the situation remains very serious.

Some workers at the stricken facility were evacuated on Monday after smoke was seen rising from reactor No 3.

The official death toll from the twin disaster has now risen to 8,450.

Nearly 13,000 people are still missing.
Food contamination

Engineers have restored power to three reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and hope to test water pumps soon.
Continue reading the main story
FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

* Reactor 1: Fuel rods damaged after explosion. Power lines attached
* Reactor 2: Damage to the core, prompted by a blast, helped trigger raising of the nuclear alert level. Power lines attached
* Reactor 3: Contains plutonium, core damaged by explosion. Fuel ponds refilled with water in operation
* Reactor 4: Hit by explosion and fire, temperature of spent fuel pond now said to have dropped after water spraying
* Reactors 5 & 6: Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising dangerously high. Diesel generators powering cooling systems

Workers have been battling to cool reactors and spent fuel ponds to bring the radiation-leaking plant under control.

A plant spokesman says some workers were evacuated from the complex after smoke or vapour was seen rising from the No 3 reactor.

Villagers living near the plant have been told not to drink tap water due to higher levels of radioactive iodine.

"There have been some positive developments in the last 24 hours but overall the situation remains very serious," said Graham Andrew, a senior IAEA official.

"We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control," Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the government is expected to announce new measures later to try to prevent produce and goods containing radiation reaching the market.

Over the weekend spinach and milk produced near the Fukushima nuclear plant was found to contain levels of radioactive iodine far higher than the legal limits, although not at levels that would be a risk to human health.

Radioactive materials three times higher than the legal safety limit were detected in the water there.

At the moment local governments are asking producers of spinach and milk in the affected areas not to send their goods to markets.

The government is considering whether additional precautions may be needed.
Humanitarian crisis

Bad weather forced Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to cancel a planned visit to emergency workers near the Fukushima plant.
Residents in the Shinjuku district on March 20, 2011 in Toyko, Japan Residents are trying to get a semblance of normal life back, despite fears of contamination

It is also making the recovery work a much more grim and difficult task.

Search-and-relief efforts in the prefecture of Miyagi, where the police chief believes the final quake-tsunami death toll could reach 15,000, have been delayed by driving rain.

"We basically cannot operate helicopters in the rain," Miyagi official Kiyohiro Tokairin said.

"We have been using helicopters to deliver relief goods to some places but for today we have to switch the delivery to places that we can reach by road," he said.

More than 350,000 people are still living in evacuation centres in northern and eastern Japan, says the BBC's Chris Hogg.

There are shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine in the shelters, our correspondent says.

Some aid from foreign countries has started to arrive. The government has begun the process of finding temporary housing in other parts of the country for those made homeless.

Nearly 900,000 households are still without water.

In a rare piece of good news, an 80-year-old woman and her grandson were found alive in the rubble of their home in Ishinomaki city, where they were trapped for nine days.
Irish lottery
forex

Villagers living near the plant have been told not to drink tap water due to higher levels of radioactive iodine.

"There have been some positive developments in the last 24 hours but overall the situation remains very serious," said Graham Andrew, a senior IAEA official.

"We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control," Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.


bingo games
Sightline Payments Bally Technologies