Chattanooga shooting: four Marines killed in 'terrorist' attack

A gunman has been shot dead by police after killing four US Marines at a Navy centre in Chattanooga, Tennessee. At least three other people were injured in the attack, including a police officer, a Marine Corps recruiter and a sailor.

Authorities are treating the attack as an act of "domestic terrorism," according to federal prosecutor Bill Killian. However, the FBI has said that it would be "premature to speculate on the motives of the shooter at this time".

The suspect has been identified as 24-year old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who is believed to have been born in Kuwait, but spent much of his life living and studying in the US.

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The attack began at Lee Highway recruitment centre at a local strip mall, where the gunman fired 25 to 30 rounds from an AK-47-style weapon at a military recruitment office, CNN reports.

Police then chased the shooter to Amnicola Highway recruitment centre, nearly eight miles away, where all four victims were killed. Abdulazeez was shot dead at the scene, but the details of his death have not been released.

"This is a sad day for the United States," Kilden told reporters. "These service members served their country with pride."

President Barack Obama has described the attacks as "heart-breaking" and said the suspect appeared to be a "lone gunman," the BBC reports.

Additional security measures have been put in place at federal buildings, but authorities insist the risk to the general public is low as it believed the gunman acted alone.

The FBI is heading a national security investigation into the shooting in order to determine whether Abdulazeez had any links to know terrorist organisations such as Islamic State.

Leaders of IS have called on their followers to increase attacks around the world during the holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.

Ed Reinhold, FBI special agent in charge, told The Guardian that at this stage of the investigation, officials had "no idea" of the suspect’s motivation: "At this point, we don’t have anything that directly ties him to international terrorist organisations."

Abdulazeez is believed to have graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2012 with a degree in electrical engineering.

Local media reports revealed that the message he left in his high school year book read: "My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?"

Chattanooga shooting: how the news was reported

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