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Five U.S. Soldiers Killed In Apparent ‘Friendly-Fire’ Strike In Afghanistan

Five U.S. Soldiers Killed In Apparent ‘Friendly-Fire’ Strike In Afghanistan

By Hashmat Baktash and Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Five international soldiers died in a clash with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan and officials were investigating whether the deaths were the result of friendly fire, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday.

The coalition offered scant details of the incident, which occurred Monday night in remote Zabul province, but Afghan officials briefed on the matter said that a coalition airstrike mistakenly targeted international and Afghan forces who were battling Taliban insurgents in the Arghandab district.

A U.S. defense official said the five soldiers were Americans, the Associated Press reported. A senior police official in Zabul confirmed that at least four Americans were among the dead. One Afghan soldier also was reported killed. Coalition officials declined to identify the victims or their nationalities, pending notification of their families.

Some of the remaining 32,000 U.S. troops, mainly special operations forces, still conduct regular ground operations in the area of the attack.

If confirmed, it would represent one of the deadliest friendly-fire incidents in the nearly 13-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

A brief statement from the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the coalition is known, said the casualties took place when the unit came into contact with “enemy forces,” shorthand for Taliban insurgents, during a security operation.

“Tragically, there is the possibility that fratricide may have been involved. The incident is under investigation,” the statement said.

Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai, the police chief in Zabul, said Afghan and international forces had carried out a joint operation against Taliban fighters in Arghandab on Monday. At the end of the day, the forces returned to their base, where at about 9 p.m. they came under fire from Taliban rockets, Rogh Lewanai said.

Coalition forces on the ground called for airstrikes against the Taliban, which mistakenly hit the Afghan and international troops, he said.

In a separate incident, another ISAF service member died Monday in what officials described as a “non-battle injury” in eastern Afghanistan. With six fatalities in all, it marked the deadliest day for coalition forces in Afghanistan since December, when six Americans perished after their helicopter came under fire from Taliban militants and crashed in Zabul province.

Coalition deaths have declined dramatically in Afghanistan as countries withdraw their forces and Afghan soldiers take the lead in most security operations.

AFP Photo/Aref Karimi

Philadelphia Inquirer Owner Lewis Katz Is One Of Seven Killed In Private Jet Crash

Philadelphia Inquirer Owner Lewis Katz Is One Of Seven Killed In Private Jet Crash

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times

BEDFORD, Mass. — Media owner Lewis Katz and six othe people died when a private jet veered into a marshy area and burst into flames during takeoff, investigators said Sunday as they began investigating the crash.

The pilot had reported no trouble, but the plane apparently never got off the ground, a National Transportation Safety Board inspector said.

Katz’s death Saturday night heaped new turmoil on the Philadelphia Inquirer, which last week changed hands for the fifth time since 2006 after Katz and partner H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest emerged from a private auction as sole owners of the Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. The pair paid $88 million for the properties, ending at least for now a feud with rivals over the news organizations’ coverage.

Although Katz’s death was not expected to interrupt the sale, it was the latest in a string of upheavals for a news group whose flagship — the Inquirer — is one of the oldest and most-decorated newspapers in the country.

“We’ve lost a great friend,” Inquirer editor Bill Marimow said.

The ill-fated Gulfstream IV carried two pilots, a flight attendant and four passengers, including Katz.

A huge explosion shook residents living near Hanscom Field, about 20 miles northwest of Boston, about 9:40 p.m.

Michelle and Kevin Thompson, whose home is near the edge of the airfield, heard the crash.

Although the crash site was about 200 yards from their home, Michelle Thompson said the explosion was so loud that she thought something had happened in their yard. “It sounded that close,” she said. “All you could see was this big black cloud.”

At a news briefing, NTSB senior inspector Luke Schiada said an employee at Hanscom who watched the jet try to take off never saw it become airborne.

“He did not see the aircraft break ground,” Schiada said, meaning the wheels never left the pavement.

Schiada described a terrifying chain of events as the jet left the paved section of the runway, rolled onto grass, hit an antenna and a fence, and crashed into a watery gully. Debris was strewn about 2,000 feet, he said.

The pilots had “no abnormal communications” with the airport tower beforehand, Schiada said. “No verbal alert.”

Investigators hoped to recover the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and black box. All of the victims were found inside the jet.

Word quickly spread that they included Katz, who used to be principal owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets — now the Brooklyn Nets — and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. He also was a shareholder of the Nets, the New York Yankees, and the YES Network.

In 2012, Katz, Lenfest and three others bought the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. They split into two factions, with Katz and Lenfest feuding with the three co-owners headed by George Norcross III, an insurance executive and New Jersey Democratic Party fundraiser.

Last fall, Katz accused Norcross of trying to take control of the newsroom by ordering the firing of Marimow, sparking a court battle that brought the feud into the open.

A judge ruled that Marimow could keep his job and ordered the sale of the news properties, which led to last week’s auction.

“We both know that this public conflagration wasn’t good for anybody,” Katz said after he and Lenfest emerged as the co-owners.

Katz and Lenfest were expected to focus more resources on bolstering the Inquirer’s in-depth and investigative reporting.

“Hopefully, it’ll get fatter,” Katz said of the newspaper, which like others has struggled to maintain subscribers and circulation in the face of online competition and declining ad revenue.

Officials did not identify the other passengers, but several media outlets reported that they included Anne Leeks, a retired schoolteacher from Longport, N.J., who had attended an education-related function with Katz in Boston over the weekend.

Philly.com reported that another passenger was Marcella Dalsey, executive director of the Drew A. Katz Foundation, which is named after Lewis Katz’s son, and the co-president of a charter school that she and Drew Katz founded in Camden, N.J.

Also aboard was Susan K. Asbell, of Camden, N.J., one of the leaders of the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County, Philly.com reported.

Hanscom Field remained closed late Sunday.

People living near the small airport, which is surrounded by residential neighborhoods, said they always feared a crash, but they assumed it would involve one of the helicopters using the military side of the airport.

Still, Kevin Thompson said the airport had small planes coming and going throughout the day and night.

“It can be like rush hour out there,” he said.

David Maialetti/Philadelphia Daily News/MCT

Dozens Killed In Central Nigeria Market Bombing

Dozens Killed In Central Nigeria Market Bombing

By Akanbi Thani and Kristin Palitza

KANO, Nigeria — Dozens of people were killed in a twin bombing at a crowded market in the Plateau state capital Jos in central Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday.

Scores of torched bodies were being evacuated from the scene of the blasts, witnesses told the German news agency dpa.

“Two ambulances have just passed us, full of dead bodies,” one witness said.

The bombing occurred at the Jos Main Market, between a railway terminus and Jos University Teaching Hospital, according to Major General Dave Enetie.

One bomb was hidden in a truck, the other in a minibus, Special Security Task Force manager Kingsley Egbo told dpa.

Witnesses said the blasts damaged the hospital, several shops, banks and a car park, and thick smoke has engulfed the area.

“The police and firefighters have started arriving at the scene,” resident Simon Ephraim told dpa. “Many people are running away from the scene with blood stains,” he added.

The exact number of casualties was not immediately known.

©afp.com / Aminu Abubakar

Two Chinese Nationals Slain As Riots Continue In Vietnam

Two Chinese Nationals Slain As Riots Continue In Vietnam

By Ralph Jennings and Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Anti-China riots in Vietnam left two Chinese citizens dead and more than 100 injured, China’s state-run media said Thursday, as officials in Taiwan worked to evacuate its nationals from the Southeast Asian country.

About 1,000 Taiwanese-owned companies have been affected by the violence, and officials in Taipei have lodged a diplomatic protest with Hanoi. Meanwhile, Taiwan drafted demands for compensation and arranged special airline flights to take its citizens to safety.

Vietnamese have been angered by Beijing’s move to install an oil rig this month in waters also claimed by their nation. Protests that began Sunday in Hanoi spiraled this week into violence that damaged numerous factories run by Taiwanese, one of Vietnam’s chief sources of foreign investment.

Mobs attacked, looted and set fire to manufacturers near the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the violence spread to north-central Vietnam on Thursday.

The mobs apparently were unable or unwilling to distinguish Taiwanese businesses from those run by mainland Chinese.

China’s state-run New China News Agency said two Chinese nationals died and more than 100 were injured in the attacks. One slain mainland Chinese was killed in a Taiwanese bicycle factory in Binh Duong province, while the other died in central Ha Tinh province, the news service said. Another 10 Chinese nationals were unaccounted for.

Two Taiwanese were also hurt, the island’s official news agency reported.

Hundreds of Taiwanese have fled from areas near Ho Chi Minh City where many Taiwanese companies are clustered.

“There are many demonstrations every day, including all industrial zones,” said Lee Wang-chung, Taiwanese general director of a family-owned motor vehicle parts factory outside Ho Chi Minh City. “In order to avoid more serious problems, all of the companies stopped working temporarily.”

“South Vietnam almost stopped working from yesterday,” added Lee, who was reached on Thursday by email after his family shuttered the plant and left their base in the southern city of Bien Hoa for another site nearby. “We don’t know how many days before we could start working again.”

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said Thursday that Beijing had summoned the Vietnamese ambassador to lodge “solemn representations” and to demand that Vietnam act to protect the safety and property of Chinese citizens and enterprises there.

“The Vietnamese side has an inescapable responsibility for the beating, smashing, looting and burning targeted at China and other countries,” she said Thursday. “We are shocked and seriously concerned.”

The Taiwanese foreign ministry has set up emergency call numbers and worked with two airlines to make seats available for Taiwanese who want to go home. Some had already fled Wednesday.

This violence, which also hit other foreign-owned factories, threatens to curtail foreign investment in Vietnam. The country’s economic growth, currently about 5 percent a year, depends largely on foreign investment, which is led by Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Taiwanese manufacturers began working in Vietnam in the late 1980s, when the country opened up to foreign investors. Now, the country is a major manufacturer of garments, furniture and machinery.

Vietnamese authorities said they had stopped most of the aggression by Thursday.

©afp.com / Le Quang Nhat