SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AFP) - Gunmen mowed down at least seven people and wounded up to 30 more in a mass shooting at a Texas military base, US military officials and the local senator said.

Sergeant Tim Volkert, a spokesman at the Fort Hood base where the shootings occurred, confirmed the seven deaths to AFP and said at least one gunman had been apprehended but another was still believed to be at large.

Local Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said a general at Fort Hood had told her around 30 wounded. "I was told around 30 wounded," she told CNN.

"I'm told that they were in military uniform, yes. But that didn't necessarily mean that they were military," she said of the shooters.