The Kosovar Albanian who shot two airmen to death in a cold-blooded attack in March at the main airport in Frankfurt, Germany, admitted to the act at the beginning of his court trial this week. Arid Uka, 21, whom German prosecutors called an Islamic “lone wolf,” told the German court Wednesday that he had been radicalized by jihadist propaganda on the Internet, reported UPI. Uka killed SrA. Nicholas J. Alden, 25, of Williamston, S.C., and A1C Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, of Stanardsville, Va. Alden and Cuddeback were among a group of airmen on an Air Force bus on March 2 at the Frankfurt International Airport when Uka struck. Uka also seriously wounded two other airmen. He is charged with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder—since he took aim at a fifth airman before his gun jammed, reported FoxNews.com.
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.