FORT HOOD (TEXAS) - SOLDIERS who witnessed a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' before opening fire, the commander at Fort Hood, where the attack took place, said on Friday.

Lieutenant-General Robert Cone told an NBC programme that suspected shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment - which is Arabic for 'God is great!' - before Thursday's rampage that also left 30 people wounded.

A CNN report on Friday reported that the 39-year-old was dressed in a traditional Arab robe hours before the shooting spree.

It showed security video footage of him buying coffee and hash browns from a convenience store on the base on Thursday morning.

The video showed him wearing a white traditional Arab robe and skullcap, and chatting with the owner, who is of Arab origin.

'He looked normal, came in, had his hash browns and coffee, as you see in the surveillance video,' the owner, who was not identified, told CNN about Hasan's purchases at 6.20am, about seven hours before the rampage.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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