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Lockdown lifted at US naval base in Italy after 'security incident'

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Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images

(LONDON) — A U.S. naval base in Italy was briefly placed on lockdown on Wednesday due to an “security incident,” officials said.

Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily said its shelter-in-place order was cleared at about 11:25 a.m., more than 3 hours after it first posted about an “ongoing situation” at an entry control point.

“We are grateful to our Navy Security Force personnel for their quick response,” the base said, without offering details on the nature of the incident.

The base said in an earlier social media post that a “lockdown/shelter-in-place remains in effect.” Traffic into and out of the base had been “secured” at that time, but was later reopened, the base said.

Signolla supports dozens of U.S. military commands from several branches, including the Navy, Army, Marine Corp and Air Force. NATO commands are also supported by the base.

The air base has been in operation since 1957 and covers some 1,300 acres over four main sites.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.

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