Tag: explosion

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Atleast 30 injured in Paris explosion

The building was initially engulfed by fire, but the blaze was later brought under control, said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez…reports Asian Lite News

Thirty-seven people have been injured, four of them seriously, after a large explosion in central Paris, authorities said.

The blast took place on Wednesday in a building that housed a design school and the Catholic education system headquarters in Rue Saint-Jacques, in the fifth arrondissement of the French capital, BBC reported.

Emergency workers are searching through the wreckage of the building, with atleast two reported to be missing.

According to witnesses, there was a strong smell of gas before the blast, BBC reported.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said after arriving at the scene that initial checks of camera footage suggested the explosion occurred within the building, which was next to the Val de Grace church.

However, the authorities have said the cause of the blast has not yet been determined, BBC reported.

The building was initially engulfed by fire, but the blaze was later brought under control, said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez.

The area has been cordoned off and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has been to the scene.

He said sniffer dogs had identified where further victims might be found under the rubble.

The area where the explosion took place runs south from the Latin Quarter in Paris’s Left Bank area that is popular with tourists and known for its student population.

A student at Ecole des Mines on Boulevard Saint-Michel told Le Parisien: “I was in front of the Val de Grace, I heard a huge boom and I saw a ball of fire 20 or 30m high. And the building collapsed with a huge noise. I smelled gas, but took several minutes to come to my senses.”

Another witness, Antoine Brouchot, told the BBC he was at home when he heard a “big explosion”.

“I stuck my head out of the window and looked towards Cochin (hospital), then I saw a big cloud of smoke and as I got closer, there was a building that had collapsed and for the moment, there is a fire.”

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-Top News Asia News Crime

Kishida unharmed after ‘smoke bomb’ thrown during speech

Video footage showed members of the public fleeing and a man being arrested following the incident.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday was evacuated unscathed after an object that appeared to be a smoke bomb was thrown at him during a public event in Wakayama City, local media reports said, adding that the suspect has been arrested.

The reports said that Kishida immediately took cover and left the scene at Saikazaki Port after the incident, adding there were no injuries or damage, reports Xinhua news agency.

The suspect has been arrested, national broadcaster NHK confirmed in a report citing police sources, without giving any further details.

NHK footage showed crowds of people running away as smoke filled the area where a loud explosion was heard, and police officers pressing the suspect to the ground.

The object, resembling a flare with smoke, was thrown at Kishida at around 11.30 a.m. (local time) while he was preparing to deliver an outdoor address supporting the by-election of the House of Representatives, Kyodo News said.

The reports said that Kishida immediately took cover and left the scene at Saikazaki Port after the incident, adding there were no injuries or damage. (Photo: Xinhua/IANS)

Kishida, currently at the Wakayama Prefecture main police headquarters, has cancelled the addressed, the news outlet added.

The incident occurred as Japan is hosting G7 ministerial meetings in Sapporo and the city of Karuizawa in Nagano ahead of the bloc’s leaders’ summit in Hiroshima next month.

The incident comes less than a year after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead during a campaign event in July 2022.

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-Top News Afghanistan Asia News

Explosion kills Afghan provincial governor

governor of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province Hajji Mullah Mohammad Daud Mazamil.(photo:twitter.com/Zabehulah_M33)

They did not, however, specify which “rebel” group these individuals were allegedly affiliated to…reports Asian Lite News

The governor of Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province was killed in a blast that targeted his office in Mazar-i-Sharif city on Thursday, the spokesman of the Taliban-run government in Kabul confirmed.

“Unfortunately I have received information that Hajji Mullah Mohammad Daud Mazamil was killed in a blast organised by enemies of Islam,” Mujahid said in a tweet.

According to police, the blast took place at 9.27 a.m. on the second floor of Mazamil’s office when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing himself and two others including the Governor.

Two more people, including a civilian, were injured in the attack.

This is the first time that the armed elements opposing the Kabul regime has targeted a high profile official since the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.

This attack comes a day after provincial Taliban authorities claimed they had killed eight “rebels and kidnappers” in Mazar-e Sharif, the Balkh provincial capital, reports the BBC.

They did not, however, specify which “rebel” group these individuals were allegedly affiliated to.

Recently, Afghan police had killed eight alleged kidnappers in a crackdown against outlaws in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri said on Wednesday.

“Units of police launched an operation against the hideout of a kidnapping gang in Khwaja Khairan locality, Police District 7 of Mazar-i-sharif city Wednesday morning, killing eight and discovered arms and ammunitions including three assault rifles, two pistols and three cars from the site of the operation,” Waziri told Xinhua news agency.

Two police personnel had been injured during the fire exchange with the gang, the official added.

In similar operations, the police arrested 10 people on the charge of involvement in criminal activities in Balkh province some two weeks ago.

The Afghan caretaker government has vowed to crack down on criminal elements in Afghanistan to ensure law and order in the war-torn country.

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-Top News Europe

Key bridge linking Crimea to Russia hit by huge blast

The State Border Service of Ukraine publishes footage of the entry of Russian military units from the territory of Crimea.(photo:State Border Service/Twitter/Xinhua)

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place at around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning while a train was crossing the bridge

The Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlins occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, was hit by a massive explosion on Saturday on the span that carries railway traffic.

Images from the bridge showed a fiercely burning fire engulfing at least two railway carriages from a train on the bridge, accompanied by a vast column of black smoke, The Guardian reported.

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place at around 6 a.m. on Saturday morning while a train was crossing the bridge, although it was not immediately clear what caused it.

Some images appeared to show a second fire at some distance from the main blaze.

Later images also appeared to show part of road bridge that runs parallel with the train tracks had collapsed, The Guardian reported.

The bridge is both highly symbolic to Russia and an important logistical supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and in southern Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The Russian news service TASS said a fuel tanker was involved.

“According to preliminary data, a fuel tank (railroad) car has been on fire at one of the sections of the Crimean bridge, shipping arches aren’t damaged, said Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian occupation head of the Crimea.

Another Moscow-appointed official said: “A cistern carriage is burning with fuel on one of the bridge sections. Shipping arches aren’t affected. Too early to talk about reasons and consequences. Work is under way to put out the fire.”

However, video footage taken from the road span appeared to show fires burning fiercely in several railway trucks along the length of the train, numbering at least half a dozen with the train stationary on the bridge, The Guardian reported.

The railway span is part of a pair of parallel bridges, crossing the Kerch Strait linking Krasnodar in Russia and Crimea, which was built by Russia after its invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Some 19-km long, the road bridge was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, with the railway bridge opening two years later.

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Categories
-Top News Afghanistan Asia News

Huge explosion rocks Kabul mosque

20 feared dead including top Islamic cleric named Amir Mohammad Kabuli, reports Asian Lite News

An explosion at a mosque in the north of the Afghan capital of Kabul killed 20 people and injured 40 more, media reports said.

The blast reportedly took place in a mosque in the Khair Khana area during evening prayers.

“As a result of an explosion in a mosque north of Kabul, 20 people were killed and another 40 were injured,” an Afghan security source told Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

The Taliban claim they have full control of Afghanistan but the Islamic State continues carrying out attacks on civilians and police across the country.

The Taliban has not issued any statement on casualties, according to the Afghan news agency. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.

Among the dead is a top Islamic cleric named Amir Mohammad Kabuli.

Two weeks ago, two deadly blasts in Kabul took the lives of 10 people, injuring 40 others. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks.

This blast comes on the heels of one year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Rights groups said the Taliban have broken multiple pledges to respect human rights and women’s rights.

After capturing Kabul in August last year, the Islamic authorities have imposed severe restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights, suppressed the media, and arbitrarily detained, tortured, and summarily executed critics and perceived opponents, among other abuses.

The New York-based rights group in its report said Taliban human rights abuses have brought widespread condemnation and imperilled international efforts to address the country’s dire humanitarian situation.

Meanwhile, the Taliban on Wednesday condemned the explosion. The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a tweet that the perpetrators of “crimes” will soon be arrested and punished, Tolo News reported.

‘Situation tragedy for alliance’

The situation in Afghanistan a year after the Taliban came to power became a tragedy not only for the Afghan people but also for all NATO countries which tried to create a stable and democratic country, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

“What we have seen in the last year is actually a huge setback and the tragedy for Afghanistan, but also for all those Allies and partners who worked so hard to create a more peaceful and democratic Afghanistan,” Stoltenberg said during a press conference.

The Western countries managed to cope with terrorism in Afghanistan, but did not fulfill the much more ambitious task of building a free and democratic state, Stoltenberg added.

An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban came to power last fall after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government.

The Taliban takeover triggered economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms. (ANI/Sputnik)

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