US President Barack Obama led an emotional memorial service for the people killed mercilessly by an army doctor at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, saying "no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts."

"We come together filled with sorrow for the 13 Americans that we have lost, with gratitude for the lives that they led, and with a determination to honour them through the work we carry on," Obama yesterday said addressing a crowd of 15,000 soldiers and their families at the Fort Hood army base.

Speaking out victims' names softly, one by one, Obama with a heavy heart, narrated their stories, and denounced the "twisted logic" that led to their deaths.

"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know. No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favour.

"And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice, in this world, and the next," said Obama, dressed in black and accompanied by his wife Michelle.

Meanwhile, reports here claimed that 39-year-old army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, who slipped into coma after being shot by a woman police officer following his shooting spree at the Fort Hood military base on Thursday last, has contacts with an al-Qaeda-linked radical cleric.

"This is a time of war. Yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed on American soil, in the heart of this great state and the heart of this great American community. This is the fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, more incomprehensible," Obama said.

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