US Reporter, Cameraman Killed in On-Air Shooting
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SUBSCRIPTION THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015 THULQADA 12, 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net US reporter, cameraman Min 30º Max 46º killed in on-air shooting High Tide 09:05 & 22:50 Gunman kills self after posting attack video online Low Tide 02:25 & 16:05 40 PAGES NO: 16622 150 FILS MONETA, Virginia: A TV reporter and cameraman were shot to death during a live television interview yester- Saudi suspect in day by a gunman who recorded himself carrying out the killings and posted the video on social media after Khobar Towers fleeing the scene. Authorities identified the suspect as a journalist who had been fired from the station earlier attack arrested this year. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, he ran off the road and a trooper found him with a self-inflict- WASHINGTON: A man suspected in the 1996 ed gunshot wound. He died at a hospital later yester- bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a US day. military base in Saudi Arabia has been captured, a The shots rang out on-air as reporter Alison Parker US official said yesterday. Ahmed Al-Mughassil, and cameraman Adam Ward were presenting a local described by the FBI in 2001 as the head of the mili- tourism story at an outdoor shopping mall. Viewers saw tary wing of Saudi Hezbollah, is suspected of lead- her scream and run, and she could be heard saying “Oh ing the attack that killed 19 US service personnel my God,” as she fell. Ward fell, too, and the camera he and wounded almost 500 people. The June 25, had been holding on his shoulder captured a fleeting 1996, bombing at Khobar image of the suspect holding a handgun. Towers, a military housing WDBJ quickly switched back to the anchor at the sta- complex, was the dead- tion, her eyes large and jaw dropping as she said, “OK, liest such attack targeting not sure what happened there.” The station later went US forces since the 1983 live again, reporting on their own station and staff as bombing of the US the story developed. Parker and Ward were killed as the Marines’ barracks in gunman fired about 15 shots. Their interview subject, Beirut that killed 241 Vicki Gardner, was in stable condition later yesterday American servicemen. after surgery for her wounds. Saudi paper Asharq The gunman was Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, of Alawsat, which first Roanoke, who appeared on WDBJ as Bryce Williams, reported the develop- authorities said. Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ’s president and ment, said he was arrest- general manager, said Flanagan had to be escorted by Ahmed Al-Mughassil ed in Beirut and trans- police out of the station when he was fired. Marks ferred to Riyadh. The described him as “an unhappy man” and “difficult to Saudi Interior Ministry had no immediate comment. work with,” always “looking out for people to say things Mughassil, also known as Abu Omran, is one of 13 he could take offense to”. “Eventually after many inci- people named in a 2001 indictment in Alexandria, dents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed Virginia, in connection with the bombing. Charges him. He did not take that well,” Marks explained. include murder of federal employees and bombing Video posted hours after the shooting on Bryce resulting in death. None of the 13 has yet been Williams’ Twitter account and Facebook page showed brought to court to face charges, according to court an outstretched arm holding the handgun and firing documents. The lead prosecutor listed in court repeatedly at Parker as she tried to run away. The shoot- records from 2001 is James Comey, now the FBI er appeared to walk up to the victims and stand a few director. feet away from them while holding the weapon. The In the Khobar attack, militants parked a fuel trail- three, in the midst of a live TV interview, do not seem to er truck just outside the shallow perimeter of the notice the gunman, who doesn’t start shooting until apartment complex, 85 feet away from one of the In this framegrab from video posted on social media, Vester Lee Ward points the camera at Parker. Ward was engaged to eight-story buildings. The blast demolished one Flanagan II aims a gun over the shoulder of WDBJ-TV cameraman a producer at the station, Melissa Ott, who was celebrat- side of the building, leaving a massive crater. Adam Ward at reporter Alison Parker as she conducts a live on-air ing her last day on the job and was in the control room, Continued on Page 13 interview yesterday. Thumbnail images at left show (top to bottom) watching it live, as the shooting unfolded, Marks said. victims Parker and Ward, and the shooter Flanagan. — AP Continued on Page 13 Thirsty Mideast Basmati grown at Wafra farm faces water stress KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti farmer, Yusuf Swilem Al-Kribani, has managed to grow basmati rice in Kuwait for the first time. Despite adverse conditions, he grew the Kuwait worst affected Indian basmati on his farm in Wafra. Eventual suc- cess has capped many failure attempts, Kribani told BARCELONA: Nearly half of 33 countries on groundwater and desalinated sea water, KUNA yesterday. expected to face extremely high water stress and faces “exceptional water-related chal- He added that basmati needs a soil capable of by 2040 are in the Middle East, where surface lenges for the foreseeable future”, they wrote holding water for longer periods, such as heavy water is limited and demand is high, said in their findings. neutral soils (clay, clay loam and loamy), and be experts who ranked 167 nations. Thirteen Betsy Otto, director of the WRI’s Global overwhelmed by water. So Kribani used closed cul- Middle Eastern countries plus the Palestinian Water Programme, said it was important for tivation basins with no holes. He pointed to other Territories are projected to face extremely governments to understand the potential personal attempts to produce black tomatoes and high water stress in 25 years’ time, and eight risks they face in terms of the water needed white strawberries. This is a message that Kuwait is fell in the global Top 10: Bahrain, Kuwait, the to run their economies, including rising able to grow most crops, he noted — KUNA Palestinian Territories, Qatar, United Arab demand as populations grow and the still Emirates, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Oman. uncertain impacts of climate change. “The Researchers from the World Resources good news ... is countries can take actions to AHMEDABAD: Indian commuters pass by a damaged bus which was set on fire Institute (WRI) - who compiled the first index reduce that stress and the risk associated during clashes yesterday. — AP measuring competition for and depletion of with how they manage water resources,” Otto surface water, such as lakes and rivers, each told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, citing decade from 2010 to 2040 - said the Middle Singapore as an example of a state that uses India’s Hindu population East is already probably the least water- innovative methods. secure region in the world. It draws heavily Continued on Page 13 drops, Muslim ratio rises 9 killed in Gujarat caste protests NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: India’s year when he said Hindu women should Hindus have dropped below 80 percent give birth to four children to ensure that of the population for the first time since their religion survives. independence and media had speculat- In the first census, conducted after ed the previous government deliberately Britain carved India and Pakistan out of delayed the release of the data because colonial India in 1947, Hindus accounted it showed a rise in the Muslim popula- for 84.1 percent of the Indian population. tion. Members of Prime Minister Although population growth is slowing Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist in all religious groups, India is still set to party, which swept to power last year, overtake China to become the world’s have expressed growing concern about most populous country by 2022, accord- the rising numbers of Muslims. The cen- ing to a United Nations forecast. India’s sus data shows that Hindus declined to population grew by almost a fifth during 79.8 percent of the country’s 1.2 billion the period between the last two census- people in 2011, from 80.5 percent a es, straining supplies of land, food and decade earlier. water and bloating its underemployed, The share of Muslims rose to 14.2 per- poorly skilled workforce. cent from 13.4 percent in 2001 - the only Separately, at least nine people have major religious group to record a rise. died in the worst violence to hit Narendra KUWAIT: Kuwaiti farmer Yusuf Al-Kribani shows Christians stayed at 2.3 percent and Sikhs Modi’s home state in more than a decade, TEHRAN: Iranian shoeshine man Mohammad Ali Hassan Khani, whose nickname stalks of basmati rice that he managed to grow fell to 1.7 percent from 1.9 percent. police said yesterday, as the Indian prime is Aliwaxima, drives his racy-red motorized stiletto on a street on Aug 19, 2015 at his Wafra farm. — KUNA Sakshi Maharaj, a Hindu priest-turned- minister appealed for calm. in the capital. — AFP (See Page 37) politician, caused an uproar earlier this Continued on Page 13 THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015 LOCAL HH the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah meets Deputy Prime Minister and HH the Prime Minister receives a gift from Ambassador HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.