Trial begins in German airport shooting that left U.S. airmen dead

FRANKFURT, Germany -- A Kosovo Albanian man confessed Wednesday to killing two U.S. airmen at the Frankfurt airport, saying in testimony at the opening of his trial that he had been influenced by radical Islamic propaganda online.

Arid Uka is charged with two counts of murder for the March 2 slaying of Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia.

The 21-year-old Uka also faces three counts of attempted murder for wounding two more airmen and taking aim at a third before his gun jammed.

Although Germany has experienced terrorist attacks in past decades, the airport attack was the first attributed to an Islamic extremist.