An under-covered News Story Involving Deaths in Germany at the major airport terminal this week
By Kevin Stoda
I received one of my prayer chain emails this week. One was for two USA Air Force members (and for their family's and friends) who were shot to death at the Frankfurt airport "by an extremist" this past week. Two other air force personnel were shot that day as well--at the Frankfurt, Germany international airport One of those two personnel is still in critical condition.
This saddened me and surprised me. I no longer live near Frankfurt Flughafen but had lived near there till last June. After reading the email, I determined to look online for further information on the internet. Most any news of the episode was dated March 2 and March 3. The press treated it as a cursory episode and has since appeared to have moved on.
Initially, the German security officials were hesitant to say that the shooting at the airport had anything to do with either wars in Afghanistan or Iraq--or elsewhere else, such as in Europe. Nor were they revealing early on the fact that the shooter, a Kosovor who has lived many years in Germany, had been under suspicion for weeks, but had had been allowed to keep his job at the airport. There are claims that some internet-based radical cleric had corrupted this good Muslim from Kosovo.
Within hours, though, the Kosovo government was condemning the act and disavowing any connection to the resident of Germany. Likewise, German Chancellor Merkel condemned the act--as did President Obama.
"T he attack came as the bus sat outside Terminal 2 at the airport, according to Frankfurt police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt. The bus driver and a passenger were killed, and one person suffered serious wounds and another light injuries, he said."
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/2-us-airmen-killed-in-frankfurt-airport-shooting-030211
Meanwhile, "U.S. Air Force Europe spokeswoman Maj. Beverly Mock said all four victims were airmen. She said she could not yet say where they were based, nor give any other details until their next of kin had been notified."
http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_17520188
Naturally, "The American forces in Germany have been targeted in attacks in the past, including a 1986 bombing at a disco in then-West Berlin that was known to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. Two soldiers and one civilian were killed, and 230 others injured in that attack, which a Berlin court in 2001 ruled was organized by the Libyan secret service and aided by the Libyan Embassy in then-communist East Berlin."
According to latest statistics, "The NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) still has some 8,700 troops there provided by 32 nations, NATO says. The U.S. currently provides some 800 soldiers, the third-largest contingent behind Germany and Italy, according to KFOR's website."
http://www.globalsaskatoon.com/dead+after+soldiers+attacked+Frankfurt/4371905/story.html
HEADING TO AFGHANISTAN
Most newsworthy was certainly the fact that this particular troop transport bus between airport terminals was preparing to put these four soldiers on a plane to Afghanistan where they would be staying for several months.
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