An Islamic extremist who killed two U.S. soldiers last year in Germany was convicted of murder Friday and sentenced to life in prison. German Judge Thomas Sagebiel ruled Arid Uka's crime deserved "particularly severe guilt," a term which rules out the customary parole for such criminals after 15 years, Fox News reports.
The 22-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo ambushed a group of American servicemen while they were in transit at Frankfurt's international airport, killing two airmen and severely wounding two others. The terrorist's attack was cut short when his gun jammed, saving the life of Staff Sgt. Trevor Brewer, who also took the stand in Germany. Uka was shouting Allahu Akhbar and had "hate in his eyes," the soldier testified.
Uka, who had a temporary job at the airport, claimed he was a lone-wolf motivated by online jihadist propaganda. In particular, he was shocked into by a scene purported to show American soldiers raping a Muslim teenager, but it turned out was a scene from Brian De Palma's anti-war film "Redacted."
The attack shocked Germany as the first successful Islamist attack carried out in the country. It also brought to international attention the problem of Islamist radicalism among Muslim Kosovars, whose nation was saved from genocide by a Western coalition.