German gunman sought revenge for Afghan war

FRANKFURT, Germany — Arid Uka, the 21-year-old man suspected of killing two U.S. airmen this week, has told investigators that he was seeking revenge for the deployment of Americans in Afghanistan after watching radical Islamist videos on the Internet, German authorities said Friday.

Prosecutors say that Uka, who is also accused of wounding two others in the attack on a U.S. military bus at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday, had tried to kill more servicemen but failed only because his gun jammed.

"The bus was waiting at the terminal, and one serviceman after the other got on it," said a German security official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Uka asked the last one for a cigarette, "then he asked the soldier if they were heading to Afghanistan."

When the serviceman answered yes, the official said, Uka shot him with a handgun in the back of the head.

"He then entered the bus, shouted 'God is the greatest' and opened fire and killed the driver with a shot in the head and injured two other soldiers," the official said.

When Uka held his gun to the head of a fifth man and pressed the trigger twice, it jammed because a cartridge had snagged inside.

The serviceman then chased and caught Uka outside the bus. German police soon arrested him.

According to investigators familiar with the case, Uka appeared to have acted alone and said he was motivated to carry out the attack after seeing a video the day before that he claimed showed U.S. soldiers raping a girl in Afghanistan.

Uka was born in Kosovo and grew up in Frankfurt.

He had applied for German citizenship and lived with his parents and two brothers in an apartment.