The Taliban has claimed there would be more attacks like the Fort Hood shootings unless Washington ends its policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a report.

It also described the US army psychiatrist who carried out the massacre in Texas as a "hero".

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites, said it had picked up a Taliban message praising the attack.

According to 'The Telegraph', the message said: "The recent attack on the military base in Texas warns that if the occupation policy of the American rulers continues in this way, without them folding the carpets of occupation and transgression in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is natural then that incidents and attacks similar to Texas will spread to the Pentagon and other American military centres.”

A Muslim psychiatrist and a major in the American army, Nidal Malik Hasan, killed 13 people and wounded 29 in the attack last Thursday at America's largest military base. He was due to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month.

Law enforcement agencies have said he acted alone and was not directed by al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Hasan has emerged from a coma after being shot four times by two civilian police officers. He has invoked his right to a lawyer and investigators are still waiting to interview him.