STERLING, Va. (AP) — U.S. mosques fearful of a backlash after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas are stepping up security.
Maj. Nidal Hasan, the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood leaving 13 people dead and dozens wounded, is Muslim.
A board member at All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va., contacted local police to ask for extra patrols. Friday is Islam's main communal prayer day.
In the Chicago area, the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs of Chicago sent e-mails asking Muslims to be more careful.
The Mosque Foundation president in Bridgeview says he's called police to put them on high alert. Zaher Sahloul says he fears something could be done to Muslims because of "misguided anger."
Meantime a classmate of Hasan's says Hasan was an outspoken opponent of the U.S. war on terror and called it a "war against Islam."
Dr. Val Finnell was a classmate of Hasan's at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Both attended a master's in public health program in 2007 and 2008.
Finnell says he got to know Hasan in an environmental health class. At the end of the class, students gave presentations. Finnell says other classmates wrote on subjects such as dry cleaning chemicals and mold in homes, but Hasan's topic was whether the war against terror was "a war against Islam." Finnell described Hasan as a "vociferous opponent" of the terror war.
Finnell says Hasan told classmates he was "a Muslim first and an American second."
©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
