Flash: Attack on Fort Hood. [updated x 4]

As of 4:30 eastern, there are 9 dead and more than 20 injured in what seems to be an attack on soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in Texas.  There are 2 suspects in custody at this time, and reports of a third taking gunman as well.  Police say the captured men were wearing fatigues.  But this doesn’t necessarily identify them as army personnel though.  All the details are sketchy, and there are unconfirmed reports of a shooting in a nearby town, Killeen, as well. 

UPDATE: The official casualty report as of 5 pm eastern is 12 dead, 31 wounded.  One shooter is dead, two others are in custody.  All of them are US military personnel, and the FBI is currently double-checking their backgrounds.  NBC is reporting that the shooter which was killed was a 39 year old Major, with an arabic sounding name, and another 2 in custody are considered his accomplices.  No motives are known at this time; and unclear whether terrorism is involved.  It should be noted that Fort Hood is one of the primary bases providing personnel to the war zones.

The President is speaking to the issue at the tribal conference he had been already scheduled to attend.

UPDATE II: The killed shooter is Major Malik Nadal Hasan; according to ABC’s Brian Ross he was a convert to Islam.  And there have been some unconfirmed reports that he was not happy about deploying/redeploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.

UPDATE III: Governor Perry confirmed that the additional two soldiers were involved and are suspects.  And, CBS reports that Major Hasan was a liscenced psychiatrist in Maryland.  And, Major General Robert Scales (Ret)  on Fox is reporting from his sources that the killings were “execution style”.

UPDATE IV: OK, I had to go out for a while, and there’s been a lot of refinement in this story.  To begin with, Lt. General Cone just finished his press conference at Fort Hood, and among the things he indicated was that Major Hasan is still alive, and in stable condition.  Also, the men detained earlier on he possibility of being accomplices have been released; Major Hasan was a lone gunman.  Contrary to earlier reports, he was born Muslim, his parents being of Jordanian extraction.  He had been transferred to Fort Hood from Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC, following a poor performance review from that same facility.  He was soon to deploy overseas, and anecdotal evidence from former collegues indicate that not only did he strongly disagree with US foreign policy and dissatisfied at the idea of deployment, but also felt strongly that Muslims should not have to fight other Muslims.  ABC news reports that this deployment would be Hasan’s first, so I guess PTSD can be ruled out.  Unless, of course, you believe that he could have contracted it simply by listening to returning soldiers stories; an assertion that may dovetail nicely with the developing anti-war press meme that it’s part-and-parcel of the strain the Army is under due to multiple deployments.

Federal authorities have indicated that he’s been under scrutiny for the approximately 6 months owing to some online postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.  They add that they’re still trying to positively connect the authorship of those posts to Hasan.

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that “IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE” and Allah (SWT) knows best.

CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) issued a statement condemning the “cowardly attacks” at Fort Hood, and want to see the perpetrator prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  They also added that no political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence.

Please pray for the fallen, the wounded, and their families…

This will be updated as more facts become available.

(H/T to AllahPundit for some of the links)