The gunman is in a hospital in stable condition, contrary to previous reports he had been killed, an Army general said. ‘Our investigation is ongoing but preliminary reports indicate that there was a single shooter,’ Lieutenant-General Robert Cone told a news conference. ‘The shooter is not dead but in custody in stable condition.’ Cone said the suspect had been shot multiple times. U.S. broadcast media identified him as Major Malik Nidal Hasan, and said he was a psychiatrist who was facing an upcoming deployment to Iraq.

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas told FOX news: ‘I do know that he has been known to have told people that he was upset about going (to Iraq).’ U.S. military officials say the shooter's motives were still unclear.

The incident at Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the world, was one of the worst killings reported on a U.S. military base. In May a U.S. soldier at a base in Baghdad shot dead five fellow soldiers.

It raised new questions about the toll that six years of continuous fighting in Iraq and nearly eight years fighting in Afghanistan have taken on the U.S. military and on individual soldiers, many of whom have been on several combat tours.

In Thursday's incident, the shooter opened fire at about 1:30 p.m. CST (1930 GMT) at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, where soldiers were getting medical check-ups before leaving for overseas deployments, the Army said.

The shooter killed one civilian police officer, Cone said.

Initial reports said two other soldiers had been detained as possible suspects. – Reuters.