Frankfurt airport gunman confesses to killing U.S. service members

Frankfurt airport gunman confesses to killing U.S. service members

2011-09-01 01:57:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

FRANKFURT, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- A German man who is on trial for killing two U.S. service members during a shooting attack at Frankfurt Airport in March has confessed to the murders, officials said on Wednesday.

21-year old Arid Uka, who is also known as Abu Reyyan, was charged on July 7 with the most serious degree of murder under Germany's law, but not on terrorism charges. He was indicted on two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Before being charged in Germany, prosecutors in New York also charged Uka with five counts, including two counts of Murder of an Officer of the United States for the deaths of U.S. airmen Zachary Ryan Cuddeback and Nicholas Alden. However, Uka is being tried in Germany since the United States did not file an extradition request.

On March 2, Uka opened fire on a group of U.S. Air Force service members at Frankfurt airport as they were on their way to join U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The shooter approached the 15-member group who had just flown in from Britain as they were about to travel by bus to the nearby U.S. base at Ramstein.

After confirming that all passengers were U.S. soldiers, Uka shot 25-year old service member Nicholas Alden who died shortly afterwards. The shooter then boarded the bus and fatally shot Zachary Ryan Cuddeback in the head at close range.

Shouting Allahu Akbar, an Arabic expression which means "God is great," he then shot and injured two other U.S. Air Force service members who were on the bus. Uka was arrested after a brief pursuit at the airport.

During the first day of the trial in Germany, Uka apologized for his crimes and said "on March 2, I killed two people and opened fire on three others. Today I can't understand myself how I could have acted in this way.â€

According to German federal prosecutors, the investigation showed that Uka had carried out the attack in retaliation for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. However, while some called it a terrorist act, Uka acted alone and did not belong to a terrorist network.

During the trial, Uka said he had been influenced by "lies" and "propaganda" after seeing a video on an Islamist website which alleged that U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan had raped an Afghan woman. The video was actually an extract from the 2007 fictional film "Redacted" by Brian de Palma.

Prosecutors said Uka told investigators that on the morning of the attack he decided to go out and kill as many U.S. soldiers as possible in revenge. "After seeing the video which showed the rape of an Afghan woman, I was shocked, almost paralyzed," Uka said. "I tried to rid myself of the picture by praying. But in the morning I was completely overwrought and worn out."

The trial, which began on Wednesday, is expected to last 10 days, with a verdict handed down early next year. If found guilty, Uka is facing life in prison.

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