China school blast kills two, hurts 34.

China school blast kills two, hurts 34.

The Australian News | 09 Sep 2013 :: AN explosion outside a primary school in China killed two people and injured at least 34 others on Monday, 26 of them schoolchildren, state-run media and a local official said.

The blast in Guilin, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the south, occurred as a man riding a motorcycle passed the school gate while children were arriving for classes, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

"First, the motorcycle caught fire and then exploded with a tremendous noise that could be heard from far, far away," a witness told Xinhua.

The cause of the explosion was not clear.

A man and a woman were killed immediately and 34 of the injured, including 26 pupils and two infants, were taken to a military hospital in Guilin, Xinhua said. Five of them were in critical condition, it added.

It was not known if the motorcyclist was among the casualties.Other victims were taken to other hospitals, it said, and exact casualties were still to be determined.

Pictures posted online showed the mangled remains of a tricycle on the ground and a motorcycle in flames outside the school, while several people sat on the ground bleeding.

A local official in Lingchaun County, where the explosion occurred, confirmed the death toll to AFP without offering further details.

Police in Guilin have begun a search for illegal explosives in the city, Xinhua said.

Posters on China's popular weibo microblog sites were outraged.

"Keep asking why the harmonious society is not harmonious, and address the fundamental problems," said one.

Another added: "Why is it always aimed at children? Can't we do something to stop violence?"

China has been hit by a number of attacks on schoolchildren in recent years, including a spate of five incidents in 2010 that killed 15 children and two adults and wounded more than 80.(Courtesy: The Australian News)

Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

BBC News | 07 Sep 2013 :: The Egyptian army has attacked militants in the Sinai peninsula using tanks and helicopters, killing or injuring at least 30 people.

Tanks, armoured vehicles and troops were deployed in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses say.

The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai.

Elsewhere, soldiers discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports.

There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

On Thursday a powerful explosion targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work. He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died.(Courtesy:BBC News)Read More>>>

Somalia blasts hits Mogadishu's Village restaurant.

Somalia blasts hits Mogadishu's Village restaurant.

BBC News | 07 Sep 2013 :: Explosions at a popular restaurant near the parliament building in Somalia's capital Mogadishu have killed 15 people, police say.

The blasts hit The Village around lunchtime. The restaurant is popular with government workers and journalists and has been targeted before.

It was not clear who carried out the attacks, which appeared to tear much of the roof off the restaurant.

Somalia is battling an Islamist-led insurgency and high levels of crime.

The restaurant - near the presidential palace - was busy at the time of the attacks.

Local reports suggest a car bomb was detonated outside the restaurant, and that a suicide bomber then blew himself up among the crowd that gathered at the scene.

Earlier reports wrongly suggested a nearby hotel was also targeted.

The Village, about 1km (0.6 miles) from the presidential palace, is not within the city's security zone but is popular with journalists and those in political circles.

Run by Somali businessman Ahmed Jama, who returned to the country from the UK in 2008, it was targeted by two suicide bombers last September in attacks that killed 14 people(Courtesy:BBC News )

11 Bhutan soldiers killed in arms depot explosion.

11 Bhutan soldiers killed in arms depot explosion.

Bhutan | 02 Sep 2013 :: At least 11 Bhutanese soldiers were killed in an explosion on Monday while disposing of old ordnance, news reports said.

The incident occurred near a military base in Anakha in the western district of Haa, according to the Twitter account of the state-run Kuensel newspaper.

Eight soldiers died on the spot and three more succumbed to injuries in hospital, the report said.

About a dozen more soldiers were hospitalised with injuries. The rest of the ammunition would now be sorted by hand to prevent further explosions, the report said.(Courtesy:The Hindu)

Death toll in Lebanon bombings rises to 47; al-Qaeda blames Hezbollah.

Death toll in Lebanon bombings rises to 47; al-Qaeda blames Hezbollah.

Sheikh who is linked to Sunni group friendly with Hezbollah arrested as suspect, after surveillance video shows him at site of explosion

BEIRUT | 24 Aug 2013 ::  Lebanese security forces arrested a suspect on Saturday in connection with the devastating double bombing the day before that killed at least 47 people in the northern city of Tripoli, the state news agency said.

The National News Agency identified the suspect as Sheik Ahmad al-Ghareeb, and said police took him into custody at his home in the Miniyeh region outside Tripoli. It said al-Ghareeb, who has ties to a Sunni organization that enjoys good relations with Lebanon’s powerful Shiite Hezbollah militant group, appears in surveillance video at the site of one of the explosions.

The coordinated explosions Friday outside two mosques in Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni city, raised already simmering sectarian tensions in fragile Lebanon, heightening fears the country could be slipping into a cycle of revenge attacks between its Sunni and Shiite communities. For many Lebanese, the bombings also were seen as the latest evidence that Syria’s bloody civil war — with its dark sectarian overtones — is increasingly drawing in its smaller neighbor.

Lebanese police officials said Saturday 47 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the attack. Some 300 people were still in the hospital a day after the attack, 65 of them in critical condition, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The United States, United Nations, and Arab League strongly condemned the violence and the loss of innocent lives.

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda claimed Saturday that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, was behind the bombings in Tripoli. The organization’s North African branch, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, said via social media that it was “certain” that Hezbollah was behind the “heinous act” in Lebanon. The organization also vowed to retaliate for the attack.

For its part, Iran said the instability in Lebanon plays into the hands of “the Zionists,” aka Israel.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi “strongly condemned” the terror attacks and said “takfiri,” or Sunni Muslim extremists, were trying to sow unrest and create strife between the different communities in Lebanon, Iran’s news agency IRNA reported.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)

British police find evidence of explosion at mosque.

British police find evidence of explosion at mosque.

LONDON | AFP |19 Jul 2013 :: British counter-terrorism police said Friday they had found evidence of a three-week-old explosion outside a mosque in central England, one of a spate of similar attacks in recent months.

The Wolverhampton central mosque was evacuated on Thursday night following the arrest of two Ukrainian men suspected of involvement in explosions at two other mosques in the area.

Police said debris from an explosion was found on a roundabout, and early indications suggested it had blown up on June 28.

“The debris... has been declared safe and further detailed forensic enquiries will be conducted at the scene throughout the day,” the force said in a statement.

Friday prayers were expected to proceed at lunchtime as normal at the mosque. 

The find comes after two Ukrainian men aged 22 and 25 were arrested on Thursday as part of an investigation into explosions near mosques in the nearby towns of Tipton and Walsall.

They were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

“We recognize the impact news of the latest find will have on the communities of Wolverhampton and further afield,” said police Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale.

“We’re working hard to complete our enquiries so that the area can be returned to normality.”

There has been a rise in anti-Muslim incidents in Britain since May, when a soldier was hacked to death on a London street in a suspected Islamist attack.

The explosion at the mosque in Tipton on July 12 coincided with the funeral of 25-year-old Lee Rigby, who was murdered in broad daylight near his barracks in Woolwich, southeast London.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Explosion kills two security personnel in Mastung.

ExplosionExplosion  security personnel in Mastung.

SYED ALI SHAH

Security forces were on routine
 patrolling duty in the area when
 they were targeted by the blast. —File Photo

QUETTA|03|June|2013:: Two security personnel were killed and another two injured in an explosion in Mastung town of Balochistan on Monday, officials said.

An intelligence official, who requested not to be named since he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Dawn.com that two security personnel were killed and two injured in a remote-controlled blast in Splinji area of Mastung.

He said the forces were on routine patrolling duty in the area when they were targeted by militants through a remote-controlled bomb.

It was yet to be confirmed that where the bomb was planted, he said. A vehicle of the forces was also destroyed in the blast.

The injured security men were brought to Combined Military Hospital for treatment.

Police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were quick at the spot after the incident.

No immediate arrests were carried out following the blast.

Militants have continued to target forces in this area for last some years.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, however, officials said they suspected the involvement of Baloch insurgents.(Courtesy:Dawn)