US launches terror probe into Washington shooting incident

The FBI said on Thursday that it had launched an international terrorism investigation after a gunman - identified as an Afghan national who served with US troops in Afghanistan - shot and critically injured two National Guard soldiers near the White House in Washington.

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The shooting, which officials described as an unprovoked, “ambush-style” attack, cast a grim shadow over the Thanksgiving holiday and triggered a hard-line, anti-immigrant response from President Donald Trump and some of his top law enforcement officials.

In a brief video statement in which he called the shooting an “act of evil,” Trump painted immigrants as an existential threat to national security and his administration ordered an immediate halt to the processing of immigration applications from Afghanistan.

“We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country. If they can’t love our country, we don't want them,” the president said.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that it has stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, after two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded in Washington.

The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.

The US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspected assailant - identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29had been living in the western state of Washington and had driven across the country to the nation’s capital.