7 killed in shootings at Fort Hood, Pentagon says

[Tim Mousel]

(CNN) -- At least seven people are dead and between 12 and 15 wounded in shootings at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, senior Pentagon official told CNN.

At least one person is "neutralized" in connection with the incident, and a second is "cornered," retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore told CNN, citing "unofficial, unconfirmed reports" from two sources.

On the Fort Hood Web site, the word "closed" is posted with the statement, "Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel."

Fort Hood was asking people on post to stay away from windows, CNN affiliate KXXV said. The incident took place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area, the station reported.

FBI agents are headed to the scene to assist, said Erik Vasys, spokesman for the FBI office in San Antonio. He had no other details.

The military installation is located near Killeen, Texas. It is the Army's largest installation, Honore said.

7 killed in shootings at Fort Hood, Pentagon says - CNN.com

[Guest]

Very tragic news.

Details seem vague, but it does raise some questions as to whether there is some kind of connection to the murder of the 5 British soldiers in Helmand two days ago. Is there any evidence to suggest a Taleban plant?

[Guest]

"The army has named the gunman as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He was reportedly due to be sent on a mission to Iraq or Afghanistan"

I think that answers my question.

Al Qaeda has always maintained that they have an embedded presence in the enemy forces. 5 British soldiers killed by a plant in the Afghan Police Force, and now the murder of 12 US soldiers on native soil less than 48 hours later.

What next...

[Hardball]

Update:

12 DEAD AND 31 WOUNDED.

[Garland]

I wouldn't jump to the assumption that he was Taliban because he was Muslim.
How the hell did this happen on an army base?

[Guest]

I didn't make any reference to his faith, it was his impending mission in Afghanistan that raised the connection.

Anyway...

The Times

November 10 2009

Evidence of a terrorist link to the Fort Hood massacre mounted yesterday with reports that US intelligence officials knew for months before the shooting that Major Nidal Malik Hasan had been trying to contact figures associated with al-Qaeda.

The gunman named in the deaths of 12 soldiers and a civilian was conscious yesterday and talking to medical staff for the first time since the attack on Thursday last week, as the FBI stepped up investigations into claims that he had maintained links with a radical cleric who once preached to two of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Major Hasan had attracted the attention of US intelligence agencies several months ago with his efforts to communicate with suspected al-Qaeda leaders by “electronic means”, according to two officials briefed on classified material who spoke to ABC News.

The disclosure was seized upon by senior congressional figures angered by indications that the CIA may have withheld vital information from the army and Congress’s own intelligence and security committees. It followed a demand from Senator Joseph Lieberman for a high-level investigation into what he called “very, very strong signs that Dr Hasan had become an Islamist extremist” — signs that include apparent ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who moved to Yemen after the September 11, 2001, attacks and who called Major Hasan “a hero” yesterday.