Kosovo Islamist admits Frankfurt attack on US airmen

[Gerald]

A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it.

Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online.

Prosecutors believe he acted alone in carrying out the first deadly attack by an Islamist on German soil.

Two other US airmen were seriously injured in the attack on an air force bus in March.

"What I did was wrong, but I cannot undo what I did," Mr Uka told the court in Frankfurt at the opening of his trial.

Prosecutors said he had wanted to kill the airmen because they were going to join the Nato-led force in Afghanistan.

'Can't understand'

The Kosovo Albanian said he had carried out the attack after watching a video purporting to show US servicemen raping a Muslim girl in Iraq.

In fact, the video was a scene from Brian De Palma's anti-war film, Redacted.

"I thought what I saw in that video, these people would do in Afghanistan," Mr Uka said.

"I killed two people and opened fire on three others.

"Today I can't understand myself how I could have acted this way."

He had no known contact with Islamist groups, prosecutors say.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14727975


Note: 31 August 2011 Last updated at 13:11 GMT