Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan +Passenger Jet Grazes U.S. Military Tanker Plane+

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - A Kyrgyz passenger jet grazed a U.S. military tanker plane while taking off from an airport near the Kyrgyz capital, setting the American aircraft ablaze. Nobody was injured.

Kyrgyz Airlines' Tu-154 passenger jet carrying 52 passengers and nine crew en route to the southern city of Osh, then to Moscow hit the U.S. aircraft standing on the tarmac of the Manas airport that also houses a U.S. military air base, said airport spokeswoman Ainura Tentieva.
The U.S. base said in a brief statement that the KC-135 tanker plane caught fire at Manas, but its crew of three got out safely and nobody was injured.

Kyrgyz authorities closed the airport for several hours, and an official investigation was under way.