The soldier suspected of killing a fellow soldier and wounding 15 others was identified Sunday as Sergeant Asan Akbar, who, a military official said, had "an attitude problem."
Akbar, a soldier in an engineer unit, is noow under investigation in a grenade and small-arms attack on the command tents of the 101st Airborne Division in Kuwait Sunday morning.
George Heath, the deputy public affairs officer at Fort Campbell, the division's base, provided few personnel details but said Akbar had been in the Army long enough to have attained the rank of sergeant and to have commanded four to eight men.
"He was having what some people might call an attitude problem," Heath said, declining to provide further explanation. Asked about a motive for the attack, he said, "I've heard some people say it may have been retribution."
Standing nervously outside his brick house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the front door draped with an American flag, Akbar's stepfather, William Bilal, 52, pondered what might have troubled his stepson. "His mother doesn't believe it's him, you know, the heart of a mother," Bilal said. "I'm not saying it's not him, but I don't know. I'd like to know."
The family spells Akbar's first name "Hasan." His mother, Quran Bilal, was inside the house but declined to speak. Bilal said she worked as a driver.
"I remember last Christmas he was complaining about the double standards in the military," Bilal said. "Hasan told me it was difficult for a black man to get rank in the military, and he was having a hard time."
Military officials had described the sergeant as a Muslim convert.
Heath said Sunday that Akbar might have adopted his name recently, but he could not provide an earlier name. He said he did not know the man's religion, but added, "I heard from a reliable source that he may have converted to Islam."
The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, reported Sunday on its Web site that Akbar was named Mark Fidel Kools at his birth and that his mother changed his name to Hasan Akbar when he was a young boy.
Akbar grew up in Baton Rouge and in Southern California. On Sunday, Bilal said, "If he did do it, then it was either pressure of this or a combination of things. If they link Hasan to the grenades, after a proper investigation and leads and everything points to him, then we'll put it in the hands of God. We all have to try and uphold the law."
Bilal, an air conditioner salesman, rejected speculation that Akbar felt uncomfortable in the Army because of his religion. "He never expressed those concerns to me," he said.
Bilal said that his stepson did not have a violent past and that his upbringing was "normal, with no problems."
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from