Hacker who allegedly passed U.S. military data to ISIS arrested in Malaysia

Authorities have arrested a Malaysia-based hacker who they accuse of stealing personal information of U.S. military members and giving it to ISIS.

Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovo citizen, was detained in Malaysia on a provisional U.S. arrest warrant alleging he provided material support to ISIS and committed computer hacking and identity theft, the U.S. Justice Department said.

According to a criminal complaint, Ferizi hacked into the computer system of a company in the United States and stole personally identifiable information of more than 1,000 U.S. service members and federal employees. Then, he allegedly gave that information to several ISIS figures, including a prominent propagandist for the group, the complaint says.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin called the case against Ferizi -- which combines cybercrime and terror charges as U.S. authorities aim to step up their crackdown on ISIS -- "a first of its kind."

"This arrest demonstrates our resolve to confront and disrupt ISIL's efforts to target Americans, in whatever form and wherever they occur," Carlin said in a statement.
Ties to prominent ISIS propagandist
The criminal complaint alleges there's probable cause to believe Ferizi hacked into a server and stole names and personally identifiable information of more than 1,300 U.S. military and other government personnel -- a list that was later posted online in August by a group calling itself the "Islamic State Hacking Division."

"We are extracting confidential data," a message from the group said, according to the complaint, "and passing on your personal information to the soldiers of the khilafah, who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands!"

The military members' data, including home addresses and photos, was allegedly stolen by Ferizi and passed on to Junaid Hussein, a British hacker who was active on social media recruiting Westerners to join ISIS, authorities said.

The U.S. military announced in August that it had killed Hussein in an airstrike in Syria. He was a leading member of ISIS' so-called CyberCaliphate, which has carried out mostly nuisance hacks on military and other government websites in the United States, France and other countries.

After the list's publication in August, Pentagon officials said they were investigating.

"I take it seriously, because it is clear what they are trying to do," Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. Army chief of ctaff, said at the time.

Many of the phone numbers and email addresses on the list were not in service when tested by CNN in August. But one person on the list, reached by phone, confirmed he had previously served in the U.S. military. He asked not to be named, but said he had recently been notified by the Pentagon that his name and personal information were on the list. Another, reached by email, confirmed she was a government employee who had been warned by the military about being on the list.

Complaint: Suspect led Kosovo hacking group
According to the complaint, Ferizi is believed to be the leader of a hacking group known as Kosova Hacker's Security.

Malaysian Police said the 20-year-old alleged hacker had entered the country in August 2014 to pursue computer science and computer forensics studies at a college in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian authorities had been monitoring him for a few months after receiving information from the FBI, said Sr. Assistant Commissioner Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, head of the counterterrorism division, Special Branch of the Royal Malaysian Police.

Ferizi was arrested September 15 in Kuala Lumpur, the assistant commissioner said. He is under remand under a provisional arrest warrant while U.S. authorities apply for his extradition.

Russia bombs Syrian targets for 4th day as international concerns grow

Russian forces bombed Syrian targets for a fourth day despite international concerns over Moscow's intentions in the war-torn nation.

The Russian defense ministry said its soldiers bombed nine ISIS positions Saturday near the terror group's de facto capital in Raqqa.

In the past 24 hours, the air force conducted 20 airstrikes near Raqqa, the defense ministry said.

Tactical bombers destroyed various militant facilities, including ammunition and oil depots, and all-terrain vehicles, the defense ministry said in a statement.

At least 11 people were killed in an alleged double strike by Russia in Syria's Idlib province, according to opposition groups.

Members of Syria's Civil Defense, a volunteer group operating in rebel-controlled areas, rushed to save people after the aerial attack on the village of Ehsim when a second strike hit the area. A rescue worker and nine members of one family were among the dead, according to the rebel-run Revolutionary Forces of Syria.

"There were families living there," said Ahmed alHmady, head of Syria Civil Defense in Balyoun, Idlib, who survived the attack. "There are no armed fighters there."

CNN could not independently verify it was a Russian strike. Syria and the U.S.-backed coalition against ISIS have also launched strikes.

Russia's defense ministry reported aerial strikes in Idlib but did not say what villages were hit.

New day, more bombs

Saturday marks the fourth day Russia has carried out airstrikes in Syria.

And with every passing day, the international community raises alarms over Moscow's intentions.

In a joint statement, a coalition made up of the United States, Britain, Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia accused Russia of attacking the Syrian opposition and civilians, instead of fighting ISIS.

"These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization," the statement said.

It questioned whether Russia's primary concern is attacking ISIS or propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia defends airstrikes

Russia has denied it conducted any strikes against civilians, and maintained it is targeting the brutal militant group.

"There were no strikes against civilian infrastructure, especially against buildings where there could have been or were peaceful residents," the defense ministry said.

As the diplomatic squabble grows, the White House downplayed Russia's decision to launch the strikes without coordinating with the United States.

No warning

Russia gave the U.S. a one-hour warning before it launched airstrikes in the western Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday. Moscow told the U.S. aircraft battling ISIS in Homs to leave Syrian airspace.

The U.S. did not leave, raising the possibility of military mishaps between the two powers as their forces operate in the same area.

The Pentagon has suggested Russia is backing close ally al-Assad -- who appears to be losing his grip on power as the nation's years-long civil war continues unabated.

U.S. defense officials have warned that Russia's move will inflame the civil war and set back efforts to drive out ISIS.

Barcelona, without Lionel Messi, loses at Sevilla

Playing its first league game since talisman Lionel Messi was ruled out for two months with a knee injury, just about everyone was wondering how Barcelona would fare against Sevilla.

Well, the Catalans lost 2-1 in a rematch of the European Super Cup, undone by some bad luck, poor finishing and stellar play from a Sevilla side who'd struggled to begin the new campaign.

Neymar, counted on to pick up the slack along with Luis Suarez in Messi's absence, indeed scored in the 74th minute but Sevilla did the damage earlier, getting goals from Michael Krohn-Dehli in the 52nd minute and Vicente Iborra in the 58th in Seville.

"It was a game in which we had a lot of chances," Barcelona manager Luis Enrique was quoted as saying by Barcelona's website. "It's almost unbelievable that we walk out of here with just one goal.

"Ten minutes in the second half ... hurt us."

In losing its second league game of the season, Barcelona missed a chance to leapfrog Villarreal atop the standings. Barcelona lost four league games all of last season en route to completing a treble of titles.

"We had chances to win the game," Suarez was quoted as saying by Barcelona's website. "But it's not the end of the world, either.

"Obviously we're the best team in the world, but the players are experienced and nobody in particular has to take the blame, just like when we won everything, it was as a group.

"In these games mistakes end up haunting you, which is what everyone saw."

Barcelona -- also without Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves -- and Sevilla engaged in an often end-to-end encounter, similar to the Super Cup, won 5-4 by Barcelona in August.

Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo was forced into action in the early going, and Suarez should have done better when set up by Neymar. Those sequences set the tone. Neymar struck the post with a free kick -- Gerard Pique was prevented a tap in on the rebound thanks to a block -- and Suarez hit the woodwork with a looping chip.

But Sevilla hung on until halftime, scored its goals and hung on again following Neymar's penalty in the 74th. Sandro almost levelled, but he, too, hit the post.

"We have to pick ourselves up," added Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic. "Every team has their lows."

Villarreal travels to Levante on Sunday but the highlight is the Madrid derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

26 killed in Guatemala landslide; hundreds missing, authorities say

At least 26 people are dead and many more are missing after a massive landslide covered much of a town in Guatemala.

The rain-soaked side of a hill crashed down onto El Cambray, burying dozens of homes, said National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction, Alejandro Maldonado.

Dozens of rescue workers and volunteers searched all day Friday in the mud and debris for survivors and victims.

"The figure we are using as potentially missing -- and I want to emphasize that this is an estimate -- is of 600 people missing," Maldonado said. Many people in El Cambray did not heed a warning to evacuate, he said.

One-two punch: Hurricane Joaquin, second system deluge East Coast

A deluge roared over the East Coast on Saturday, closing roads, causing blackouts and evacuations, and threatening all-time rainfall records in South Carolina and the southern Appalachians.

The potentially historic precipitation will last all 48 hours of the weekend, due to a 1-2 punch from Hurricane Joaquin over the open Atlantic and a second weather system.

Parts of the South Carolina coast braced for likely flooding with more than 15 inches.

In Virginia Beach, Virginia, Bubba's Seafood restaurant fought a surge of coastal waters -- and then saw dolphins at its door, CNN affiliate WVEC reported.

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"I'm a good citizen and I'm going to obey," Shirley Jones of Charleston, South Carolina, said Saturday of official advisories to stay home and out of the knee-deep water.

"I'm going to hole up in my apartment and clean out my dresser."

As of 7 a.m. Saturday, Charleston already broke its daily record rainfall of 3.46 inches.

As South Carolina residents hunkered down, up to 500 residents were evacuated in coastal Brunswick County, North Carolina, that state's governor said.

Flood and flash flood watches are posted from Georgia to Delaware through at least Sunday.

"The magnitude of rainfall coupled with already-wet soil will bring about the threat of potential significant flooding impacting life and property," CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. "There is also and increased threat of landslides and debris flows across the mountains and foothills of the Carolinas.

"Life-threatening rip currents, high surf, and coastal flooding, mainly at high tides, will stretch nearly the entire eastern U.S. coast," he added, noting wind gusts that could reach 30 mph and could topple trees.

A foot of rain could befall the Southern Appalachians. The Northeast could see two inches. And up to four inches could strike the waterfront between Georgia and New Jersey.

While it appears Hurricane Joaquin won't make a direct hit on U.S. mainland, communities from the Southeast to New England had their gutters full from the second system that's largely stalled and, in so doing, pummeled millions with rain.

Meanwhile, Joaquin strengthened Saturday and returned to its prior monster status: a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds. It was between Bermuda and the Bahamas' San Salvador Island as of mid-day Saturday.

"This is not just any rain," Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina said. "This is going to be the heaviest rain we have ever seen."

Added Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina: "The tough news for North Carolina and especially South Carolina is continued rain."

McCrory expressed appreciation for how Joaquin didn't slam into the eastern seaboard as earlier feared.

"It could have been much worse if that hurricane shifted to the west," McCrory told CNN.

Both Carolinas, New Jersey, and Virginia declared states of emergency.

The National Weather Service warned that some places could see as much as 12 inches of rain.

Flooding is a major concern for a number of reasons: directly from all the rains, indirectly from rivers and creeks possibly overflowing their banks, and also from storm surges fanned by strong winds. Beaches off New Jersey and Delaware, for instance, had seen around 50 mph gusts by Friday.

Compounding this is the fact that the region was already drenched.

"We've gotten into this pattern of lows in the Mid-Atlantic, which has had lots of rain the last two weeks," CNN meteorologist Rachel Aissen said. "So the ground is just saturated."

'Squeezing effect' for rains, winds

A few days ago, some forecasters thought that Hurricane Joaquin could make landfall over the weekend in Virginia or somewhere in that vicinity. The fear was that this could be another Superstorm Sandy -- an October storm that barrels up from the Caribbean with high winds, heavy rains and deadly flooding.

Such an extreme seems unlikely now, though it doesn't mean history won't be made.

Aissen explained that a combination of factors, including a high-pressure system behind the system, are helping push Joaquin away from the U.S. coast. At the same time, they're making the system now parked there more dangerous.

"It's creating a squeezing effect that is just ushering both moisture and high winds," said the CNN meteorologist, explaining that the winds are more a worry -- not due to the damage they can do themselves, but how they might rustle up storm surges.

In an anticipation of that wet reality, Friday night football games were moved up a day over flooding concerns in South Carolina's Lowcountry region, while others were postponed. The Yankees-Orioles game in Baltimore and the Marlins-Phillies showdown in Philadelphia were both postponed due to rain.

SCEMD

Farther north, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie warned that -- hurricane or not -- there could be flooding in the southern counties of Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland and Salem.

Said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "We're not getting complacent, because weather reports change. We're making sure that everything is ready to go, just in case."

Along Virginia Beach's Atlantic Avenue, a main thoroughfare about two blocks from the ocean, business owners appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach on Friday.

"We're usually fine here," said Sharlotte Castillo at the Sunsations beach shop. "Maybe a little rain, but we're staying open."

Even as far north as Waterbury, Vermont, Skip Flanders was keeping an eye out. He's seen firsthand from 2011's Hurricane Irene that the heavy rains from a huge tropical system like this can have devastating effects far from the coast.

"We had 28 inches of water in our house from Irene," Flanders told CNN affiliate WCAX. "I certainly hope that something of that proportion doesn't happen again."

Britain's youngest terror mastermind jailed for life for Anzac Day plot

A police officer beheaded in broad daylight on one of the most solemn days of the year, as thousands of people gathered to pay tribute to the sacrifice of soldiers in past wars.

It's a grisly crime that -- if carried out -- would have shocked Australia to its core. And it was plotted by a schoolboy on the other side of the world.

Britain's youngest terror mastermind has been jailed for life for orchestrating the beheading, which was to have been carried out during a parade in Melbourne on Anzac Day -- a national holiday honoring the country's war dead -- in April this year.

The boy, who admitted directing the jihadist plot and encouraging others to take part, was just 14 when he planned the brutal slaying. He cannot be identified because he is a minor.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, head of England's North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said the boy's role was "quite shocking," considering he was "extremely young."

"I think it shows that the ideology, if you're open to it, it takes no prisoners ... there are certain people who fall into the seductive propaganda of some of the ISIL stuff that's pumped out on social media.

"He's been caught up in that, he's explored it and he's escalated into an attack plan, and a credible one, which is an extremely dangerous thing to do."

According to authorities, the attack was to have been carried out in person by his co-conspirator, Sevdet Besim, from Melbourne; the pair had set out the details of the deadly outrage in thousands of messages sent using an encrypted app.

But the plan was foiled, police say, when they were called in after the teenager threatened to behead teachers at his school in northern England, prompting counterterrorism experts to crack the encryption code on his smartphone. Besim awaits trial in Australia on charges of conspiring to commit a terrorist act; he has not yet entered a plea.

Alerted by their counterparts in the UK, Australian police closed in and found "the knife, the flag, and the martyrdom ... script," Mole said.

The boy, who is now 15, was known to have behavioural problems, but his parents, who are divorced, are said to have had no idea their son had been radicalized until police became involved.

The British-born teenager had managed to convince 18-year-old Besim that he was much older and had a history of radicalism, testing the Australian's religious knowledge and determination to carry out an attack.

"He's put himself in the space of authority and Besim has accepted that," said Mole. "That's the mask of social media -- you can, if you [behave] in the right way, ask the right questions, you can show yourself to be that sort of mature person that Besim was ... looking for to give him some guidance."

Authorities claim that over the course of nine days the pair exchanged some 3,000 messages using controversial messaging app Telegram.

Security analysts say members of terror groups like ISIS use encryption apps including Telegram, Surespot, Kik and Wickr to send messages to each other without the risk of them being read by outsiders.

"It is very well known that ISIS -- and not just ISIS -- uses open source social media like Facebook and Twitter to circulate its propaganda," said Charlie Winter, of counter-extremism think tank Quilliam.

"What you also see is people in Syria and Iraq who self-advertise as Islamic State fighters and recruiters and they provide the details to their Surespot account, their Kik account, their Telegram account."

British authorities want the ability to monitor such communications.

"Do we want to allow a means of communication between people which -- even in extremis, with a signed warrant from the Home Secretary personally -- we cannot read?" British Prime Minister David Cameron asked in January this year.

His message has been echoed by Andrew Parker, the head of Britain's security service, MI5, who says counterterrorism forces must be able to monitor suspected extremists.

"MI5 and others need to be able to navigate the internet, to find terrorist communication," Parker told the BBC in early September. "We've been pretty successful in recent years but it is becoming more difficult as technology changes faster and faster.

"We need to be able to do in the modern age what we have done in our history -- [we] need to be able to monitor the communications of terrorists and spies."

Telegram's co-founder, Pavel Durov, says he is "sorry" that the teenager was using his app to plot the beheading, but insists: "If Telegram did not exist, this young boy would have used some other app."

A Russian exile, Durov says he's seen first-hand what happens when a government has too much power over information.

"What I saw in countries like Russia [and] many other places is that when law enforcement bodies get access or can get access to the data eventually it leads to abusing that kind of power."

He says people have the right to secure communication, and warns it is almost impossible to limit the spread of encrypted technology.

But later this year, the British government plans to introduce draft legislation dealing with encryption -- in the hopes of stopping the next teenage terrorist.

Mob in Indian village kills man over cow slaughter

By and large, Hindus and Muslims live side-by-side in relative peace across India. But every now and then, the calm is punctured by moments of madness — and deadly violence. The sleepy, dusty, mostly Hindu village of Bisara, near the country's capital, became such a place this week.

According to eyewitness accounts, this blood-curdling sequence of events unfolded in a matter of minutes Monday night: A Hindu temple announced sacrilege; villagers formed an angry mob; and normal people, fueled by each other's presence, became assailants.

A Muslim blacksmith, Mohammad Akhlaq, and his son Danish were battered by people who knew them. The father died, and his son was has been hospitalized with critical injuries.

What triggered the bloody assault? A rumor that a cow was slaughtered in that nondescript neighborhood, home to mostly Rajputs — a high-ranking valiant Hindu caste meaning "sons of the kings."

In Hinduism, cows are deemed sacred and their killing a sin.

'It was blood all over my son's face. He is gone'

"Two young men came to me that night and asked me to announce on the loudspeaker that there's a carcass of a cow lying nearby," the temple priest, Sukhdas Mahatma, told CNN.

"They pressured me to make that announcement. What could I do? I had to make that announcement," he said, moving his fingers on his flowing white beard.

Soon after his broadcast, villagers crowded around the temple compound, and decided to set out for Akhlaq's home through the winding, narrow and broken lanes. They believed the 50-year-old blacksmith was the culprit because his faith doesn't prohibit eating beef. And his was one of the two Muslim households in that neighborhood of more than 6,000 people.

"I heard loud bangs on the front door of our house," said Asghari Begum, the mother of Mohammad Akhlaq. "Then I heard them shouting expletives," she said. Before she could react, a group of men scaled the walls and jumped into the house.

"They pushed me, then punched me on my face, in the abdomen," Begum said, pointing to her bruised and swollen eye.

The mob then ran to the first floor of Akhlaq's home and dragged him out, along with 22-year-old Danish. Both were beaten with "whatever they (attackers) could lay their hands on," police superintendent Kiran Sivakumar told CNN.

"It was blood all over my son's face. He is gone," moaned Begum, sitting on a cot in her dark, ground-floor room.

Six arrested

Upstairs, the telltale signs of the raid were still everywhere. A refrigerator that stored meat lay down broken on the floor. The ransacked rooms were still strewn with shattered vases and sewing machines.

Police have so far arrested six of the 10 men Akhlaq's family has named in their initial police complaint. These were people they knew. More arrests are likely, Sivakumar said.

Unease was palpable in the village as the murder drew widespread media attention. No one in the village admits to being part of the mob.

"My son is innocent. He has been falsely implicated," said Ombir Sisodia, father of one of the jailed men. "He was sick and sleeping when mobs gathered around after the temple announcement," Sisodia said.

Police have seized meat samples from Akhlaq's home for testing. The family says the meat is goat and not beef. Regardless of what kind of meat it is, "it doesn't absolve (the attackers of) the crime," police superintendent Sivakumar said.

Sacredness of cows

Cow slaughter is banned in most of Hindu-majority India, including in Uttar Pradesh.

This year, the western state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, became one of the latest to outlaw beef.

"The sacredness of cows in India might be a cliché, but it is deeply felt, rooted in the history of Hinduism," said novelist Manil Suri in a New York Times column.

But "imposing ideals from a mythic past is not the answer," he wrote in the April op-ed. "The true lesson to take away from history is how utilitarian goals can shape religious custom. Hinduism has always been a pragmatic religion; what today's India needs is accommodation."

Britain's youngest terror mastermind jailed for life for Anzac Day plot

A police officer beheaded in broad daylight on one of the most solemn days of the year, as thousands of people gathered to pay tribute to the sacrifice of soldiers in past wars.

It's a grisly crime that -- if carried out -- would have shocked Australia to its core. And it was plotted by a schoolboy on the other side of the world.

Britain's youngest terror mastermind has been jailed for life for orchestrating the beheading, which was to have been carried out during a parade in Melbourne on Anzac Day -- a national holiday honoring the country's war dead -- in April this year.

The boy, who admitted directing the jihadist plot and encouraging others to take part, was just 14 when he planned the brutal slaying. He cannot be identified because he is a minor.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, head of England's North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said the boy's role was "quite shocking," considering he was "extremely young."

"I think it shows that the ideology, if you're open to it, it takes no prisoners ... there are certain people who fall into the seductive propaganda of some of the ISIL stuff that's pumped out on social media.

"He's been caught up in that, he's explored it and he's escalated into an attack plan, and a credible one, which is an extremely dangerous thing to do."

According to authorities, the attack was to have been carried out in person by his co-conspirator, Sevdet Besim, from Melbourne; the pair had set out the details of the deadly outrage in thousands of messages sent using an encrypted app.

But the plan was foiled, police say, when they were called in after the teenager threatened to behead teachers at his school in northern England, prompting counterterrorism experts to crack the encryption code on his smartphone. Besim awaits trial in Australia on charges of conspiring to commit a terrorist act; he has not yet entered a plea.

Alerted by their counterparts in the UK, Australian police closed in and found "the knife, the flag, and the martyrdom ... script," Mole said.

The boy, who is now 15, was known to have behavioural problems, but his parents, who are divorced, are said to have had no idea their son had been radicalized until police became involved.

The British-born teenager had managed to convince 18-year-old Besim that he was much older and had a history of radicalism, testing the Australian's religious knowledge and determination to carry out an attack.

"He's put himself in the space of authority and Besim has accepted that," said Mole. "That's the mask of social media -- you can, if you [behave] in the right way, ask the right questions, you can show yourself to be that sort of mature person that Besim was ... looking for to give him some guidance."

Authorities claim that over the course of nine days the pair exchanged some 3,000 messages using controversial messaging app Telegram.

Security analysts say members of terror groups like ISIS use encryption apps including Telegram, Surespot, Kik and Wickr to send messages to each other without the risk of them being read by outsiders.

"It is very well known that ISIS -- and not just ISIS -- uses open source social media like Facebook and Twitter to circulate its propaganda," said Charlie Winter, of counter-extremism think tank Quilliam.

"What you also see is people in Syria and Iraq who self-advertise as Islamic State fighters and recruiters and they provide the details to their Surespot account, their Kik account, their Telegram account."

British authorities want the ability to monitor such communications.

"Do we want to allow a means of communication between people which -- even in extremis, with a signed warrant from the Home Secretary personally -- we cannot read?" British Prime Minister David Cameron asked in January this year.

His message has been echoed by Andrew Parker, the head of Britain's security service, MI5, who says counterterrorism forces must be able to monitor suspected extremists.

"MI5 and others need to be able to navigate the internet, to find terrorist communication," Parker told the BBC in early September. "We've been pretty successful in recent years but it is becoming more difficult as technology changes faster and faster.

"We need to be able to do in the modern age what we have done in our history -- [we] need to be able to monitor the communications of terrorists and spies."

Telegram's co-founder, Pavel Durov, says he is "sorry" that the teenager was using his app to plot the beheading, but insists: "If Telegram did not exist, this young boy would have used some other app."

A Russian exile, Durov says he's seen first-hand what happens when a government has too much power over information.

"What I saw in countries like Russia [and] many other places is that when law enforcement bodies get access or can get access to the data eventually it leads to abusing that kind of power."

He says people have the right to secure communication, and warns it is almost impossible to limit the spread of encrypted technology.

But later this year, the British government plans to introduce draft legislation dealing with encryption -- in the hopes of stopping the next teenage terrorist.

11 killed when U.S. C-130 plane crashes in eastern Afghanistan

Eleven people were killed when a U.S. C-130 plane crashed in Afghanistan early Friday morning, the U.S. military said.

Everyone aboard -- six U.S. Air Force members and five civilians -- died in the incident, the U.S. military said.

It is not yet known what caused the crash at Jalalabad Airport near the Afghan-Pakistani border and whether hostile fire was involved, though the U.S. military in Afghanistan believes the latter to be unlikely.

"With high confidence, it does not appear at this time that enemy fire was involved in the aircraft crash. We have first responders on scene working at the crash site doing recovery operations," said Maj. Tony Wickman, a U.S. military spokesman, in an emailed statement to CNN.

However, the Taliban claimed that Islamist fighters downed the plane.

The plane "was shot down in an attack by Mujahedeen in Jalalabad city," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Majahid said on Twitter.

Wickman said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.

The Jalalabad Airport, which has hosted the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, has been subject to attacks by militants in the past.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, which has been in use since the 1950s, transports cargo.

The military did not release the names of the service members, saying their families needed to be notified first. But it did say that four of the airmen were deployed from Texas's Dyess Air Force Base, and two came from Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter put out statements on the crash Friday morning expressing sympathy for both the American and Afghan lives that were lost.

Carter said the Pentagon was "still trying to determine exactly what happened," but that in any case the incident was "a reminder of the risks that our men and women face serving their country in remote places all over the world."

Obama offered similar remarks.

"As we mark this terrible loss of life, we are reminded of the sacrifice brave Americans and our Afghan partners make each and every day in the name of freedom and security," he said. "Their willingness to serve so selflessly will not be forgotten."

Five dead in apparent murder-suicide in Minnesota

Five members of a Minnesota family have died in what police are calling an apparent murder-suicide.

Police discovered the bodies Thursday in the expansive home near Lake Minnetonka in Greenwood, Minnesota, after going to the home on a welfare check.

Authorities didn't name the victims, although local media outlets -- citing family friends and a post on a business owned by one of the victims -- identified them as Brian Short, his wife Karen, and their three children, two girls and a boy.

Aside from saying there was no danger to the public, police also declined to detail the apparent murder-suicide, which left interim South Lake Minnetonka Police Department Chief Michael Siitari all but speechless.

"There's no words to describe it," he told CNN affiliate WCCO of the crime scene.

Neighbors told CNN affiliate KARE they saw no signs of trouble in the family.

"Totally shocked," said neighbor Doug Plocek. "Not in the depths of my mind did I think something like that could happen. So to have something of this magnitude, and especially when it involves children, it just tears me apart."

Family friend Kari Smiths was also caught off guard.

"They liked to have gatherings and friends over. Then as a family they were really close knit, did a lot of things together, vacations and sports and stuff," she said.

Roy Schepers, a friend of the Shorts' son, told CNN affiliate WCCO that nothing seemed amiss when they were last together at a bonfire.

"He seemed happy, he was laughing. Life was good," he said.

Siitari warned of a complex crime scene and a likely protracted investigation before police will have answers about what happened, but said it does not appear there is any danger to the public.

Two Israelis shot and killed in West Bank

An Israeli couple were shot and killed Thursday in the West Bank in front of their four children, according to Israeli officials.

"Initial reports suggest that moments ago, two Israeli civilians were shot to death when an assailant fired at their vehicle on a route between the communities of Elon Moreh and Itamar. Forces are conducting a search of the area," according to a text alert sent Thursday by the Israeli military spokesperson to CNN's Oren Liebermann.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner said on Twitter that the couple were shot in front of their four children.

Elon Moreh and Itamar are Israeli settlements in the northern part of the West Bank, near Nablus.

Taliban take another area in Afghanistan, parliament member says

The Taliban have taken over the Warduj district of Badakhshan, east of Kunduz province, according to Fawzia Koofi, one of the first women to be elected to the Afghan parliament after the U.S. invasion of the country.

The Taliban takeover in Warduj province represents a new setback for the Afghan government, after the group reclaimed parts of the city of Kunduz earlier this week. That was the biggest victory the Taliban has had in 15 years. Kunduz is a strategic hub on the main highway between Kabul and Tajikistan.

Earlier Thursday, Doctors Without Borders staff working in a hospital in Kunduz were caught in the crossfire as the Taliban and Afghan security forces -- with help from U.S. troops -- battled for control of the provincial capital.

The medical staff bravely worked to treat the wounded as shells exploded and the ominous sound of rockets filled the air. Bullets broke windows and pierced the roof of the intensive care unit, Dr. Masood Nasim said.

"Our hospital was on the front line, with fighting outside the gate," he said. "But despite being in the middle of the fighting, our hospital and staff have been respected and we've been able to carry on our work."

Nasim, the medical team leader, said that since Monday -- when the Taliban said they had seized control of Kunduz -- the hospital had received at least 296 patients, including 64 children. Nearly 75 of them arrived in critical condition, and many were shot, he said.

The facility has a 92-bed capacity but the medical staff scrambled. They put patients in offices and examination rooms and stabilized many on mattresses on the ground.

"Our surgeons have been treating very severe abdominal wounds and limb and head injuries," he said. "The hospital has been completely full of patients."

While they fought to save lives, competing narratives circulated over who was winning Kunduz.

Early Thursday, the Afghan government said it had reclaimed most of the city in a big operation backed by U.S. airstrikes.

But hours later there were signs that the Taliban were back in Kunduz, a resident told CNN. Gunshots were heard near the airport, according to a resident who did not want to be named for security reasons.

The U.S. role

U.S. Special Forces advisers in the country said in a statement that Afghan Security Forces had Thursday "encountered an insurgent threat in Kunduz" to which U.S. Special Forces returned fire to "eliminate the threat."

The statement stressed that Afghan Security Forces have full responsibility for their operations in Kunduz, but U.S. service members have the right to protect themselves.

At least 150 Taliban fighters were killed in Kunduz with 50 others dying in Baghlan and Takhar,Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted. The Khawja Ghar district was also retaken by Afghan forces, according to Sediqqi.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid insisted the militants weren't done fighting in the city yet and had regained ground since the government's advance.

The Taliban remain in control of at least two districts in the rest of Kunduz province.

The Taliban's takeover of Kunduz was the first time they had driven government forces out of a provincial capital since the Islamic extremist group was ousted from power in 2001.

The defeat intensified doubts about Afghan troops' ability to take on the militants now that the U.S.-led coalition has stepped back from front-line combat. It also showed the Islamic extremist group's resilience despite recent internal divisions under its new leader.

The Taliban attack Monday, in which government officials say the militants cunningly "infiltrated" the city, was preceded by a monthslong buildup of insurgent forces in the surrounding region. And yet the Afghan security forces, who outnumbered their enemy, appeared unprepared or unwilling to defend it.

After losing Kunduz on Monday, Afghan troops initially struggled to retake it. Many of them remained dug in at the airport on the outskirts of the city while the Taliban prevented reinforcements from getting through from neighboring Baghlan province.

The situation on the ground in and around Kunduz has often appeared confused, with the Taliban and the government both claiming to have gained ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the other side.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the operation to retake the city had killed 150 Taliban fighters. But it didn't provide any information about casualties on the government side.

Hundreds of civilians wounded

Many civilians were caught up in the fighting and thousands fled Kunduz, according to the United Nations. They left by truck, rickshaw or horse -- and some on foot.

Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, said that under Taliban control of the city there were reports of "extrajudicial executions, including of health care workers, abductions, denial of medical care and restrictions on movement."

One male resident of Kunduz told CNN on Wednesday that shops were closed, there was a citywide power blackout and it was becoming difficult to find food.

"Kunduz has turned into a ghost city," the man said, reporting that he had been hurt by shrapnel after getting caught in a firefight. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.

Pictures and video posted to social media from Kunduz after the government said it had retaken control showed citizens out on the streets.