US tears down Army base site in Texas

DALLAS - The US military has demolished the building at a Texas base where a former Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others, military officials said on Tuesday.

Teams tore down the building that was part of the Soldier Readiness Processing Center and will plants trees, install a gazebo and mark the site with a remembrance plaque for the victims, Fort Hood officials said in a statement.

The move was done "in coordination with family members of the deceased and individuals wounded," it said.

The central Texas military base is where soldiers prepare to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nidal Hasan, an American-born Muslim, opened fire on unarmed soldiers preparing for deployment on Nov 5, 2009 in what he later called retaliation for US wars in the Muslim world.

Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest" in Arabic) during the attack and later said he wanted to be a martyr.

Hasan, 43, was convicted by a military jury of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death in August.

He currently resides on death row at the military's maximum-security facility in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas pending an automatic appeal required by the military justice system.