HERAT: A powerful car bomb near a police station on Friday night killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50 others in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, officials said.
Herat Governor Sayed Abdul Wahid Qatali said several women and children were among the dead.
He added that at least 53 people, including civilians and security forces, were hurt when a van packed with explosives went off in a crowded part of the city in the evening.
Dozens of homes and shops were also damaged in the blast, and rescuers rushed to the scene to help several people trapped under the rubble, Qatali said.
According to Mohammad Rafiq Sherzai, a senior health official, eight bodies, including two women, three children, two male civilians, and one member of the military, had been taken to hospitals.
Forty-seven others including, 20 women, 11 men, eight children and eight security forces members have been wounded, Sherzai said, adding that 10 injured were in critical condition.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombing but local officials blamed Taliban insurgents.
Representatives of the Taliban, which has been fighting a foreign-backed Afghan government since they were ousted from power by US-led forces in late 2001, were not immediately available to comment.
Peace negotiations between the Afghan government and insurgent Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha have struggled to make progress amid international calls to reduce violence.
The UN Security Council in a statement condemned “in the strongest terms the alarming number of attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan.”
“The members of Security Council called for an immediate end to those targeted attacks and stressed the urgent and imperative need to bring the perpetrators to justice,” it said.
President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack and blamed the Taliban.
“The Taliban, by continuing their illegitimate war and violence against the people, once again showed that they not only have will to resolve the current crisis peacefully but by complicating the situation,“Ghani said in a statement.
There were 8,820 civilian casualties in 2020, according to a report released by UN mission in Afghanistan last month.
Russia plans to hold a conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on March 18 and has invited several regional players, including Afghan government and politicians to jumpstart the peace process as diplomacy by foreign powers including Washington ramps up.
It comes at a crunch time for the peace process as a May 1 deadline for foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan looms and the United States reviews its plans.
Car bomb kills at least 7, injures 53 in Afghan Herat province
https://arab.news/9ryba
Car bomb kills at least 7, injures 53 in Afghan Herat province
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs jury to be seated in hip-hop mogul’s sex trafficking trial
- Combs pleads not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Twelve jurors and six alternates to be chosen
NEW YORK: A jury of 12 New Yorkers is due to be chosen on Friday in the racketeering and sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who could face decades or even life in prison if convicted.
The rapper has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution — all felonies.
Over three days this week, the judge overseeing the case questioned nearly 100 prospective jurors on subjects including what they had heard about Combs’ case and any experiences they had had with sexual assault.
With input from defense lawyers and prosecutors, US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan dismissed the jurors he deemed unfit to serve and settled on 45 candidates qualified to serve fairly and impartially.
On Friday, lawyers for each side will take turns striking candidates until a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates is chosen — a chess match with potentially decisive implications in the outcome of the trial.
Combs, a Harlem native who founded the pioneering record label Bad Boy Records and discovered iconic rappers including the Notorious B.I.G., was arrested last September and has been held in a Brooklyn federal lockup since then.
The charges marked the stunning downfall of a titan of the music industry who once held a ceremonial key to the city of New York and was known for throwing lavish parties for A-list celebrities.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s office say that for two decades Combs used his business empire to lure women into his orbit with promises of romantic relationships or financial support, then violently coerced them to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs.”
In court papers, prosecutors allege Combs kept his victims obedient by drugging and blackmailing them. He is accused of kidnapping a person at gunpoint, dropping a Molotov cocktail into a car and hitting, choking and dragging victims in acts of violence dating back to the 1990s.
Combs’ lawyers have said prosecutors are improperly seeking to criminalize Combs’ “swinger lifestyle.” They have signaled they plan to attack the credibility of the alleged victims who will testify by seeking to show they had financial incentives to accuse Combs. They have said the women gave inconsistent accounts of the alleged assaults to investigators.
Subramanian has said the trial will last around eight weeks, with the alternate jurors serving as backups in case jurors are unable to finish. Any verdict must be unanimous.
The trial is expected to feature testimony from three, or possibly four, accusers including Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, a rhythm and blues singer known professionally as Cassie.
Combs faces more than 50 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, including one by a plaintiff who says he was 10 years old at the time of the alleged attack.
Combs has denied wrongdoing in those cases and claimed his accusers are seeking a payday.
Ukraine says it uncovered a Hungarian espionage network, two suspects arrested
- The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia
- The Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has also threatened to bloc EU financial assistance to Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s main security agency said Friday it had arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Hungary by gathering intelligence on Ukraine’s military in the west of the country.
In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that two suspects, both former members of the Ukrainian military, had been detained and face charges of treason, which is punishable by life imprisonment. It was the first time in Ukraine’s history that a Hungarian espionage operation had been discovered, the statement said.
The activities of the suspected spies were focused on the western Ukraine region of Zakarpattia, which borders Hungary and is home to a sizeable Hungarian ethnic minority. Budapest and Kyiv have clashed over the rights of Hungarians in Zakarpattia, most of which was part of Hungary until the end of World War I.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not directly deny the allegations of a Hungarian espionage cell operating in Ukraine, but suggested that the SBU’s claims could be classified as “anti-Hungarian propaganda.”
“I urge everyone to exercise caution against any news that appears in Ukrainian propaganda,” Szijjártó told a news conference on Friday. “If we get any details or official information, then we can deal with it.”
Hungary, a member of NATO and the European Union, has taken an adversarial approach to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, refusing to supply Kyiv with weaponry or to allow its transfer across Hungarian territory.
The Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has also threatened to bloc EU financial assistance to Ukraine, argued against sanctions on Russia and opposed Ukraine’s eventual membership in the EU.
Orbán is widely seen as having the warmest relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin among EU leaders, though he has acknowledged that the war was a result of Russian aggression.
The SBU said both suspected spies were overseen by a career officer of Hungary’s military intelligence, whose identity had also been established. That officer supplied the network with cash and a special device for covert communication to support the operation, and had attempted to recruit other individuals into the network, the SBU said.
The Hungarian Defense Ministry and Military National Security Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sri Lanka helicopter crash kills six military personnel
- The crash took place halfway through the ceremony in Maduru Oya, nearly 300 kilometers (187 miles) east of Colombo
- Friday’s tragedy is the worst for the Air Force since a Chinese-built Y-12 aircraft crashed at Haputale in January 2020
COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter crashed during a graduation ceremony on Friday, plunging into a reservoir and killing six of the 12 people on board, a military official said.
The personnel were preparing for a grappling demonstration when their Bell 212 careened into the reservoir at the Maduru Oya national park, the official told AFP.
“There were 12 people on board, and six of them survived with minor injuries,” said the official, who declined to be named.
Those killed included four special forces commandos and two Air Force gunners.
The survivors were admitted to hospital.
The crash took place halfway through the ceremony in Maduru Oya, nearly 300 kilometers (187 miles) east of Colombo.
After a slew of parades, the chopper crew were expected to perform a “fast-roping” maneuver, showcasing their skills in descending from the helicopter while it hovered just above roof height.
After the crash, the graduation ceremony was called off and an investigation into the cause of the incident was launched.
“The Commander of the Air Force has appointed a special nine-member committee to conduct a detailed investigation,” the military said in a statement.
The Air Force operates a small fleet of Bell, Mi-17, and Mi-24 helicopters. Much of the Mi-24 attack helicopter fleet has been grounded since the end of the country’s protracted Tamil separatist war in May 2009.
Friday’s tragedy is the worst for the Air Force since a Chinese-built Y-12 aircraft crashed at Haputale in January 2020, killing all four crew members on board.
In September 2000, an Mi-17 helicopter crashed in central Sri Lanka, killing all 15 people on board — including the country’s then top Muslim political leader — making it the worst helicopter crash in the island’s history.
First mass celebrated by new Pope Leo XIV begins
VATICAN CITY: New Pope Leo XIV began celebrating his first mass as head of the Catholic Church on Friday, a private gathering for cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, according to video footage broadcast by the Vatican.
US-born Robert Francis Prevost will deliver his much-anticipated first homily as pontiff.
China, Russia vow to strengthen cooperation on international law matters, state media reports
- China, Russia vow to strengthen cooperation on international law matters, state media reports
BEIJING: China and Russia have agreed to strengthen cooperation in matters of international law, according to a joint statement released on Friday following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The two countries both stated their opposition to unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported the statement as saying, and will work together to defend the United Nations’ central role in international affairs.
