Germany indicts youth for murder of two US airmen in Frankfurt

Jul 7, 2011, 9:41 GMT

Karlsruhe, Germany - German authorities indicted Arid Uka, 21, on Thursday for shooting two US airmen dead at Frankfurt Airport in March and attempting to kill three others before his pistol jammed.

The young German Muslim, who is of Kosovar extraction, was accused of the most serious degree of murder under German law, but not of terrorism because authorities said the evidence showed he was a loner and was not connected to any terror group.

Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe said the sole reason the uniformed US Air Force personnel were killed March 2 on a forecourt of the airport was because they were on their way to serve in Afghanistan.

Uka, who completed school last year and still lived with his parents, was accused on two counts of 'heinous murder from base motives,' which is punishable by life imprisonment, as well as on three counts of attempted murder.

An airman chased Uka after his pistol jammed and caught him, together with German police.

Two of the wounded were critically ill before they recovered.

Prosecutors said Uka was inspired by Islamist propaganda on the internet. Investigators found no evidence any other person was involved or that Uka was plotted with any terrorist group.

US federal prosecutors in New York separately announced their own murder charges on June 21 against Uka.