US set to expel more than a dozen Saudi military trainees following terror attack in Florida

More than a dozen Saudi servicemen who are training at US military bases are set to expelled from the country following a deadly shooting last month by a Saudi Air Force officer at an American naval base in Florida.

A Pentagon has recommended for removal the Saudi personnel, though none of them are accused of aiding the Saudi Air Force second lieutenant who killed three American sailors at the Pensacola installation on December 6, CNN reported on Saturday.

The Pentagon, the Justice Department, the FBI and the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Pentagon announced on December 10 that it was halting operational training of all Saudi Arabian military personnel in the US after the incident.

The Pentagon then announced nine days later that it found no threat in its review of about 850 military students from Saudi Arabia studying in the United States.

The FBI has said US investigators believe Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, acted alone in the incident before he was fatally shot by a deputy sheriff.

The Saudi Air Force officer, who was on a US-sponsored training programme, reportedly posted a manifesto on Twitter in which he wrote: "I'm against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil."

It went on: "I'm not against you for just being American, I don't hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity."