[Iran Press TV Latest] The US army officer who killed 13 soldiers and injured 30 at a US military base in Texas, had contacted 'a radical cleric sympathetic to al-Qaeda,' officials claim.
Major Nidal Malik Hassan who served as a psychiatrist in the US army for many years, had 'communicated on 10 to 20 occasions with a radical cleric' who is close to al-Qaeda, American intelligence agencies claim, adding that they were 'monitoring the email of Yemen-based Anwar al-Awlaki'.
However, they claim, it was 'decided' that this did not merit further investigation.
Despite trying very hard to somehow connect the incident to a Muslim source due to the shooter's faith and Palestinian roots, US officials reiterate that Major Hassan 'apparently acted alone' in carrying out Thursday's massacre at the Fort Hood base in.
Meanwhile, President Obama visited Fort Hood late Tuesday for a memorial service for the victims of the last week's shooting.
Hassan, a 39-year-old US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was scrutinized by an FBI-led joint 'terrorism task force' because of a series of alleged email exchanges between him and Al-Awlaki in 'December 2008 and early 2009.'
Al-Awlaki, who was released from a Yemeni jail last year, was once an imam at a mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, where Major Hassan and his family occasionally attended prayers.
Al-Awlaki, according to US officials, now runs a website denouncing US policy and praising Major Hassan's alleged actions at Fort Hood as 'heroic.'
Observers believe that the US is obviously bent on 'discovering' an "Islamic link" to the incident, once again promoting suspicion and hatred against American Muslims in the workplace.
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