Attack on U.S. airmen called individual act

FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Arid Uka grew up in a well-kept immigrant neighborhood in Frankfurt as the son of a relatively prosperous family of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo -- a group notable for pro-American views.

German officials said Thursday that Uka, a 21-year-old temporary letter sorter with the postal service, has admitted targeting Americans when he opened fire Wednesday with a handgun on a busload of 15 U.S. airmen at Frankfurt's airport on their way to deployment in Afghanistan, killing two and wounding two.

A federal judge in Karlsruhe on Thursday ordered Uka held in prison on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder pending further investigation.

German investigators, who described Uka as a "radicalized Muslim," said indications were that he only recently adopted his strong views after contact with other radicals through social networking sites and elsewhere. They said it appears he was not part of a terrorist organization.

"From our investigation so far, we conclude that he acted alone," said Hesse state's top security official, Interior Minister Boris Rhein. "So far we cannot see a network."

Uka lived with his parents in Frankfurt. Uka's father, Murat, would not speak to journalists Thursday, but he told Kosovo's daily Gazeta Express that family members were shocked.

So were his neighbors. "He was nice and very quiet -- I would say, shy," said Jessica Friedrich, who went to the nearby elementary school with him.

ASSOCIATED PRESS