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U.S. orders marine unit out of country

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 24, 2007

AFGHANISTAN

A new elite Marine Corps unit that allegedly killed at least eight civilians in the aftermath of an ambush in eastern Afghanistan on March 4 is under investigation by the U.S. military and has been ordered to leave the country months earlier than scheduled, officials said Friday. In an unusual move, Maj. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, who commands U.S. Special Operations forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, ordered the 120-strong Marine Corps Special Operations Company to leave Afghanistan because the incident so damaged the unit's relations with the local population that it could not carry out its mission, the officials said.

SOMALIA

Insurgents down plane in capital

Insurgents shot down a cargo plane over Mogadishu on Friday, witnesses and Somali officials said, possibly killing the 11 people on board and raising fears that Somalia's transitional government faces an increasingly organized and lethal threat. According to government officials, the plane was a Belarussian cargo jet ferrying technicians working for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

CHINA

U.S. general says military opens up

China's military is proposing officer exchanges and other confidence-building measures with the U.S. Army and may be inching closer to setting up a hotline for emergency communication with Washington, the top U.S. general said Friday in Beijing. However, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he received no new information from Chinese military chiefs on Beijing's test of an antisatellite weapon in January that raised concern in Washington. He said he pressed China's generals for more transparency about the aims of their military buildup.

JAMAICA

Cricket group will investigate death

The international governing body of cricket said Friday it would investigate whether match-fixing was a motive for the slaying of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who was strangled in Kingston, Jamaica, after his team was upset by Ireland. Kingston Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said police believed more than one person may have killed Woolmer, 58, in his hotel room Sunday.

CUBA

U.S. says detainee admits attack role

A Guantanamo Bay detainee indicted in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania says he unwittingly delivered the explosives used by others. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani of Tanzania said he did not know about the assault beforehand and was sorry for the role he played, according to the Pentagon transcript of his hearing at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba. It was released Friday.

Elsewhere

North Korea: The Bush administration said Friday it is dispatching a Treasury Department official to Beijing today to help authorities move ahead on the release of $25-million in frozen North Korea funds. The frozen funds led to the breakdown of talks on North Korea's nuclear program.

West Bank: Belgium became the latest Western nation to reach out to the new Palestinian government, declaring Friday that the unity coalition was more moderate than its Hamas-led predecessor.

[Last modified March 24, 2007, 02:17:11]