Personnel at U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy, were told to shelter in place for several hours Wednesday morning due to an unspecified “security incident” at the base. The U.S.-operated base is a key installation and logistics hub — home to some 7,000 troops and family members — for American and allied NATO operations in Europe.

A message shared on the NAS Sigonella Facebook page said the “shelter-in-place was ordered in response to a security incident” that was cleared by 11:25 a.m. local time (5:25 a.m. Eastern), when the lockdown was lifted.

CBS News was unable to reach Air Station Sigonella at a phone number provided for the base on Wednesday, and no further information on the nature of the security incident was immediately available.

The lockdown order was conveyed to personnel on the U.S. military base in a series of earlier posts on the Facebook page, which told all personnel on the NAS 2 part of the installation, where most operational work has taken place for years, to shelter in place and avoid travel between one of the base’s housing complexes and NAS 2.

The notices said entry and exit through at least some of the NAS 2 gates had been “secured.”

“Sigonella has grown to be the premier logistics base in the Mediterranean as it continues to be a vital component in supporting U.S. and NATO operations within the European theater,” according to the U.S. Navy, which says the station’s primary mission “is to provide consolidated operational, command and control, administrative, logistical and advanced logistical support to U.S. and other NATO forces.” 

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