Officials investigate shooting at Arizona military base
Authorities are investigating a late-night shooting at Luke Air Force Base on the western edge of metropolitan Phoenix, Ariz.
A person involved in the shooting attempted to flee from the scene by ramming one of the base’s gates.
Base spokesman Lt. Ryan DeCamp says the shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m., April 15 in a housing area on the base’s eastern edge.
He declined to describe the circumstances that led up to the shooting, who was involved, whether any arrests were made or whether anyone was injured.
He says the shooting wasn’t terror-related and that business at the base resumed to normal April 16. AP
U.S., Filipino troops start drills near disputed sea
Nearly 7,000 American and Filipino troops began annual military exercises March 16 that will include combat drills near disputed South China Sea waters.
U.S. and Philippine officials stressed that China, which in the past has protested military exercises involving American forces near the contested region, was not an imaginary target in the drills.
They said the Balikatan – Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder – exercises would mostly focus on humanitarian missions and disaster preparedness but would also include combat maneuvers including the mock retaking of an oil rig supposedly seized by terrorists near the South China Sea.
Asked if China should be alarmed, U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Curtis Hill said in a news conference that the exercises would not focus on any nation as an adversary.
“There is no reason for anyone to feel threatened by us coming together, working through our inter-operabilities so we can better respond and help people across the region,” Hill said.
But the larger than usual American attendance at the high-profile event reflects U.S. efforts to reassert its presence in the Asia-Pacific region as a counterweight to China’s rise, a move that has rattled Beijing. AP
