Saudi Arabia’s King Salman condemned a gun attack at a US naval base by a Saudi student as “barbaric”, President Donald Trump said.
He tweeted that the monarch had called him to offer “sincere condolences”.
The gunman, an aviation student, killed three people and injured at least eight at the base in Pensacola, Florida, before being shot dead.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the Saudi government was “going to owe a debt” to the victims.
The attacker has been named by US media as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. He used a handgun during the shooting.
The FBI are yet to declare a motive but are believed to be investigating for links to terrorism.
“There are many reports circulating, but the FBI deals only in facts,” special agent Rachel Rojas told a news conference on Friday night.
Saudi Arabia is a key US ally in the Middle East and the two countries have longstanding military exchange programmes. The shooting has already prompted questions about the vetting of foreign military personnel sent to the US for training.
It is the second shooting to take place at a US military base this week.
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A US sailor shot dead two workers at the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii on Wednesday.
“King Salman of Saudi Arabia just called to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies to the families and friends of the warriors who were killed and wounded in the attack,” President Trump tweeted.
“The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people.”
In a separate statement, the Saudi foreign ministry called the attack “horrific” and said it would provide “full support” to the investigation.
President Trump has maintained close relations with Saudi leaders despite the killing of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote a column for the Washington Post newspaper, in the country’s consulate in Turkey in October 2018.
Saudi officials have said Khashoggi, a high-profile critic of the government in Riyadh, was killed in a “rogue operation” by a team of agents. But many critics believe otherwise and a UN expert concluded that the death was an “extrajudicial execution”.
Authorities were alerted to the shooting in a classroom at the base on the waterfront south-west of Pensacola at 06:51 local time (12:51 GMT) on Friday.
The assault ended when a sheriff’s deputy shot dead the attacker. Two officers were shot in the limbs but are expected to recover.
Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani was a second lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force in training at the site, US officials say. There are reports that he posted an online manifesto before the attack but this is yet to be confirmed.
Source: BBC
