The commander of a US army base where a soldier shot three colleagues says an "escalating argument" was the most likely cause of the attack.

THE army psychiatrist accused in the fatal shootings at Fort Hood may be paralysed from the waist down after being shot multiple times during the attack, his attorney said yesterday.

Accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan was coherent during his first meeting with his defence lawyer in a hospital intensive care unit.

US Army officials have decided not to prosecute 17 soldiers involved in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.