Vehicle rams gate at US spy agency near Washington DC, shots fired

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A shooting erupted when a vehicle tried to ram an entrance gate to the US National Security Agency outside Washington, media reports said Monday.

An NSA police officer shot one of the men dead, and seriously injured the second, CNN reported.

Video imagery showed a crash-damaged police vehicle and a civilian vehicle outside a main gate of the super-secure headquarters of the NSA, the US intelligence agency that conducts electronic surveillance worldwide.

CNN reported that police in Anne Arundel, Maryland said one person was killed and another injured in the incident, but provided no other information. TV footage showed what appeared to be a body covered by a white sheet near damaged vehicle.

There was no immediate comment from the NSA or the Pentagon.

The incident took place near one of the gates to the complex, far from the main buildings.

In addition to the headquarters of the NSA, Fort Meade is home to 95 units from all branches of the armed forces and offices that report to several Defence Department agencies, according to the US Army, which operates the base, CNN said.

About 11,000 military employees and 29,000 civilians work there, according to the Army.

Some 6,000 people also live on the base, which began operations in 1917 as a garrison for World War I draftees, the Army said.

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