At least 30 killed, 50+ injured as multiple blasts rock school in Kabul
8 May, 2021 17:14
Multiple explosions have rocked a school in the Afghan capital of Kabul. At least 30 people were killed in the blasts and dozens more were injured. The majority of the victims were female students.
On Saturday, at least three blasts occurred on the premises of the Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School, located in the western part of the capital. The attack occurred when the students were leaving the school.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions, with local media reports suggesting the school came under rocket fire. Imagery from the scene shows a burnt-out vehicle by the school gates, apparently destroyed by the blasts.
While the school itself suffered little structural damage, many people outside the building were caught in the blasts. Footage circulating online shows multiple victims, primarily female students, lying on the ground at the school gates, with textbooks and other belongings scattered around them.
The school is attended by both boys and girls, who study in three different shifts. The second shift is dedicated to female students, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education, Najiba Arian, told Reuters.
Local TOLO news, citing the Interior Ministry, says the blasts killed at least 30 and wounded over 50 people. So far, no armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban denied any involvement.
Afghanistan has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks following US President Joe Biden's announcement that American troops – deployed in the country for two decades – will be withdrawn by September 11, and not the May 1 date agreed during Donald Trump's administration. The Taliban criticized the new deadline.
Now, who, in Afghanistan, doesn't want the American Army to leave? Besides the American Army!
Updated numbers on May 9th indicate 68 dead, mostly schoolgirls, with more than 165 hospitalized.
Fire breaks out at Iran chemical factory hours after media reports of massive blaze
near Bushehr’s nuclear power plant
8 May, 2021 14:25
FILE PHOTO. © Reuters / WANA
A large fire has erupted at a chemical plant in the Iranian city of Qazvin, with local media reporting an explosion. The incident follows an overnight blaze in the port city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
The fire broke out at the plant on Saturday afternoon following a small explosion at the site. Footage circulating online shows flames emerging from the facility, with a large column of billowing black smoke.
Multiple fire engines were deployed to the location to tackle the blaze. While the explosion and the fire that followed did not inflict any casualties, at least two firefighters were injured while battling the flames, local media reported.
The fire comes hours after a major blaze broke out near the port in the southwestern coastal city of Bushehr. The city houses Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
Footage circulating online shows a wall of fire raging near the port, in the immediate vicinity of a road and buildings. The fire broke out at a swampy area located on the premises of a local naval base, Iranian media reports suggested.
The Bushehr port fire did not inflict any casualties or damage any property, according to local emergency services.
Either of these could have been an Israeli attack, but is more than likely just an example of Iranian technical incompetence.
Civilians flee as Philippines soldiers dislodge 200 (hungry?) Islamist militants
who seized town market
8 May, 2021 07:44
FILE PHOTO: Philippine soldiers and policemen man a checkpoint © AFP / Ted Aljibe
Residents were evacuated from a Philippines town after around 200 Islamist fighters captured a local market, reportedly in order to score a meal. Gunshots were heard as the military tried to flush the militants from the area.
Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) seized the public market of Datu Paglas, located on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, on Saturday morning, prompting the deployment of military and police units to the area.
The group opposes a peace agreement between Muslim rebels, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the central government. Some members of BIFF have also reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Hundreds of residents fled the town, but some civilians were prevented from leaving by the militants, who used a truck to block a highway leading to the market, according to local media.
Photographs and videos posted on Twitter show villagers making a hasty exit using motorbikes, vans, and animal-drawn carts.
According to several reports, BIFF fighters reportedly opened fire as the military cordoned off the market. Purported footage of the skirmish shows soldiers taking cover near an armored vehicle as bursts of gunfire can be heard.
Other accounts, citing military officials, said the militants fired warning shots at civilians, and that the military returned fire. The firefight reportedly did not result in any injuries.
It’s still unclear why the militants raided the market. A military spokesman said it appears that BIFF members wanted to get food from the market, but their presence frightened residents who reported them to authorities. The militants then seized the market after fearing retaliation.
According to local media, the fighters eventually left the market, but operations were ongoing. Troops reportedly recovered several improvised explosive devices near the highway that had been blocked.
'Civil war is brewing in France and you know it': French military
launches another salvo at Macron with new open letter
10 May, 2021 11:44
on November 19, 2020. © Reuters / Benoit Tessier
A group of active French military personnel has published a new open letter to the country's president Emmanuel Macron, warning him of a "civil war" brewing in the country after all the "concessions" he's made to Islamism.
The letter, published in the conservative Valeurs Actuelles magazine late on Sunday, strikes a similar tone to the message published by the same outlet last month. Unlike the previous one, which was signed by 25 retired generals and active-duty soldiers, the new letter is anonymous and is open for signing by the general public. As of noon on Monday, it had attracted over 100,000 signatures.
The authors of the letter have described themselves as active-duty French soldiers, belonging to the younger generation of the military that saw actual combat over the past years.
"We are what the newspapers have called 'the fire generation.' Men and women, active soldiers, of all armies and of all ranks, of all opinions, we all love our country. These are our only claims to fame. And while we cannot, by law, express ourselves with our face uncovered, it is equally impossible for us to stay silent," the letter reads.
The letter accuses President Macron of making "concessions" to Islamism on French soil, while the country's military has been spilling its blood to fight against it in "Afghanistan, Mali, the Central African Republic or elsewhere."
The authors have also indicated that at least some of them have taken part in the domestic Operation Sentinelle, launched after the devastating 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, and witnessed certain ethno-religious communities in France completely detached from the rest of the country.
For such communities "France means nothing but an object of sarcasm, contempt or even hatred," the letter reads.
Like the previous letter, this new one warns the republic's authorities of an impending "civil war," with the very existence of France being at stake. "Once again, civil war is brewing in France and you know it perfectly well," the letter reads.
We are not talking about extending your mandates or conquering others. We are talking about the survival of our country, the survival of your country.
The authors of the letter have also voiced strong support towards the signees of the first one and harshly criticized the government's response to it.
"To encourage the army's senior officers to take a stand and expose themselves, before angrily sanctioning them as soon as they write anything other than battle reports, one must be quite perverse," the letter reads.
Cowardice, deceit, perversion: this is not our vision of the hierarchy. On the contrary, the army is, par excellence, the place where we speak the truth because we commit our lives.
The first letter, published on April 21 – on the 60th anniversary of a failed coup d'état against General Charles de Gaulle over his support in favor of independence for Algeria – caused an uproar among France's top officials. Prime Minister Jean Castex branded the message "an initiative against all of our republican principles, of honor and the duty of the army," while the military vowed to punish the active-duty signees.
At least 13 killed in two bus bombings across Afghanistan
as Taliban announces three-day Eid ceasefire
10 May, 2021 09:08
At least 13 people were killed and almost 40 were injured overnight in two bus bombings in Afghanistan. The attacks came shortly after the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday later this week.
A passenger bus was hit by a roadside bomb in the southern Afghan province of Zabul overnight, the provincial governor’s spokesman, Gul Islam Sial, said on Monday. The attack left at least 11 people dead and some 28 injured, including women and children.
In a separate incident, a minibus was hit by a blast just north of the capital, Kabul. The explosion killed two people and injured nine, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks yet.
The deadly blasts came shortly after the main adversary of the Afghan government, the Taliban, announced a three-day ceasefire for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr religious holiday. The Eid celebrations, which mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, are expected to begin on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the appearance of the crescent moon.
“All Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are instructed to halt all offensive operations against the enemy countrywide from the first till the third day of Eid. But if the enemy conducts any assault or attack against you during these days, stand ready to robustly protect and defend yourselves and your territory,” the Taliban said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Afghanistan has seen an uptick in violence, with terrorist attacks taking place on an almost daily basis, and fighting between government forces and the Taliban intensifying.
One of the deadliest incidents in recent weeks occurred on Saturday, when unknown assailants attacked a Kabul school, detonating at least three bombs as pupils were leaving the facility. At least 68 people were killed by the blasts and more than 160 injured, with the vast majority of the victims being female students.
While the Afghan government was quick to blame the Taliban for the incident, the group strongly denied its involvement, condemning the school attack and pointing a finger at the Islamic State terrorist group instead.
The spike in violence follows the announcement by US President Joe Biden, who pledged to withdraw American combat troops from the country by September 11, after two decades of deployment. The announcement has been criticized by the Taliban, which urged Washington to stick to the May 1 deadline agreed under then-President Donald Trump instead.
New York police ID suspect in Times Square shooting, say he meant to shoot his brother when 4yo girl & two women were hit
10 May, 2021 01:11
New York police have identified the suspected gunman in a shooting on Saturday at Times Square that injured a four-year-old girl and two women as Farrakhan Muhammad, saying he was aiming at his brother but hit the bystanders.
The 31-year-old suspect’s identity was first disclosed by several New York media outlets on Sunday. The NYPD then released a wanted poster naming Farrakhan Muhammad. The gunman was seen on surveillance video after Saturday's shooting, and he was reportedly identified when detectives were investigating a fatal stabbing at a Midtown Manhattan hotel hours later.
The detectives spotted a man hanging around near the hotel who looked almost identical to the alleged Times Square gunman. When they began to question him and noted his resemblance to the shooter, the man said, "I'm his brother."
He went on to tell officers that his brother was aiming at him when the shooting occurred, the New York Post reported. Police said Muhammad and his brother were among a group of men arguing when Muhammad pulled out his gun and started shooting.
He missed his intended target, allegedly hitting a four-year-old girl from Brooklyn, a 43-year-old New Jersey woman and a 23-year-old Rhode Island tourist who was visiting New York with her husband and toddler for Mother's Day weekend. The Rhode Island woman, Wendy Magrinat, told NBC4 News that she heard an argument behind her just before the gunshots.
"I told my husband, 'Let's move a bit forward,' because he had our two-year-old in his hands," she said. "At the same moment I told him that, the shots fired. I walked a little bit and then I started screaming, asking for help." Magrinat was shot in the leg. She said doctors elected not to remove the bullet because the surgery would do more damage.
Muhammad is reportedly an illegal CD peddler. Such peddlers are known for using aggressive tactics to get money out of tourists, such as asking a visitor's name, writing the name on a CD and demanding that they buy it, as it can no longer be sold to anyone else.
Muhammad was arrested last year for assaulting a man who tried to intervene when he was harassing a couple on the street, police said. Another CD peddler was reportedly shot and killed by a police officer in Times Square in 2009. The man allegedly fled when the officer asked for his tax identification, then turned and fired a semi-automatic pistol at the cop when he was chased. The officer returned fire and killed the man.
Saturday's shooting came amid a surge in gun violence in New York City. Through May 2, there had been 416 shooting incidents in the city, up 83% from a year earlier, police data showed. The number of victims was up 79%, at 463, and murders rose 17% during the same period to 132.
Times Square ranked as the world's No. 2 tourist attraction, behind only the Las Vegas Strip, drawing 39.2 million visitors in 2019, according to World Atlas. But New York's tourism industry was ravaged by strict Covid-19 lockdowns and is projected to possibly remain below pre-pandemic levels until 2025.
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