TEHRAN: A bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashed in central Iran, killing at least 28 people, an official said Wednesday.
The crash happened Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Another 23 people suffered injuries in the crash, 14 of them serious, he added. He said all the bus passengers hailed from Pakistan.
There were 51 people on board at the time of the crash outside of the city of Taft, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Iranian state television later blamed the crash on the bus brakes failing and a lack of attention by its driver.
In Pakistan, media reports quoted a local Shiite leader, Qamar Abbas, saying as many as 35 people had died in the crash. He described those on the bus as coming from the city of Larkana in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. Pakistan’s government offered no immediate comment.
Iran has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records with some 17,000 deaths annually. The grave toll is blamed on wide disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services in its vast rural areas.
The pilgrims had been on their way to Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen.
A separate bus crash early Wednesday in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province killed six people and injured 18, authorities said.
Bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashes in Iran, killing at least 28 people
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Bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashes in Iran, killing at least 28 people
- The pilgrims were on their way to Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day following the death of a Shiite saint in the 7th century.
UAE ruler receives China’s Premier Li Qiang in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI: UAE’s ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed received China’s Premier Li Qiang in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, reported state news agency WAM.
In a statement on X, Sheikh Mohamed said the two discussed joint efforts to enhance comprehensive strategic partnership between their countries.
“The UAE is committed to building upon 40 years of deep-rooted cooperation with China to achieve enduring growth, development, and prosperity for our people,” said Sheikh Mohammed.
I was pleased to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Abu Dhabi today to discuss joint efforts to further enhance the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries. The UAE is committed to building upon 40 years of deep-rooted cooperation with China to achieve enduring… pic.twitter.com/4NTxISsjGU
— محمد بن زايد (@MohamedBinZayed) September 12, 2024
At least quarter of Gaza wounded have ‘life-changing injuries’: WHO
- Life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries
GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Thursday that at least a quarter of those hurt in the war raging in Gaza have suffered “life-changing injuries,” many requiring amputations and other “huge” rehabilitation needs.
At least 22,500 of the people injured in Gaza in the 11 months since the war erupted will “requires rehabilitation services now and for years to come,” the WHO said in a statement.
“The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the ongoing decimation of the health system,” Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 41,118 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, while over 95,000 have been wounded.
The Hamas attack inside Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.
Pointing to a fresh analysis of the types of injuries resulting from the conflict, the UN health agency said “many thousands of women and children” figured among those badly injured and that many had suffered more than one injury.
It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 “severe limb injuries,” which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation.
The report showed that between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations had occurred.
Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.
At the same time, WHO said only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.
Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO ceased functioning last December due to lack of supplies and specialized health workers.
“Tragically, much of the rehabilitation workforce in Gaza is now displaced,” the statement said.
Peeperkorn said that “patients can’t get the care they need.”
“Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialized care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk,” he said.
“Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs.”
Gazan child amputee dreams big after evacuation to Qatar
- Qatar has taken in some injured Gazans for treatment as it tries to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
DOHA: Evacuated to Qatar from the chaos of Gaza, nine-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Youssef Ajjour still dreams of becoming a pilot one day despite losing his arms in an Israeli rocket attack.
In a small apartment in Doha, capital of the wealthy Gulf Arab state, Ajjour’s mother slowly eases him into his uniform to help him get ready for school. It will take some time to fit him with artificial limbs.
The rocket hit as he was walking away from his Gaza home in December with his father and mother, he said.
“I was lying on the ground, I didn’t know what hit me, I didn’t know that I lost my arms” said Ajjour.
He was operated on in Gaza with limited anaesthetic, waking up from the operation in great pain and with his arms gone, his mother said.
Yet he is one of the lucky ones, escaping the shattered territory, where many hospitals have been destroyed and doctors say they often have to perform surgery without any anaesthetic and pain killers.
Qatar has taken in some injured Gazans for treatment as it tries to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas along with the United States and Egypt that would see the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. There is still no sign of agreement.
Ajjour longs for Gaza, which was vibrant before the conflict despite widespread poverty and high unemployment in what was one of the world’s most densely populated places.
His home was destroyed in the Israeli offensive triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led militants who killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has killed at least 41,118 Palestinians and wounded 95,125, according to the Gaza health ministry. Nearly two million people have been displaced and the territory has become a wasteland. Israel says it does not target civilians, accusing Hamas militants of hiding among them, allegations the militants deny.
“I want Gaza to be beautiful again,” Ajjour says.
At the long-established Palestinian School in Doha, he sits patiently while his classmates write things down and raises his voice alongside them as they answer a teacher’s questions.
The school psychologist, Hanin Al Salamat, sees in him a source of inspiration. “He gives us strength,” she says.
He refuses to let physical limitations define him.
“I will keep trying everything,” he says with conviction. “I will become a pilot, and I will play soccer with my friends.”
Turkiye probing killing of activist in occupied West Bank
- Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting the US-Turkish activist in the head
ANKARA: Turkiye is investigating the killing of a US-Turkish activist during a protest in West Bank, the justice minister said Thursday, adding that Ankara would press the UN to take immediate action.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
The settlements are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head. The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and said it was looking into the case.
“Turkiye has opened an investigation,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
He also said Turkiye would take the case to the United Nations and push for an independent inquiry into her death.
“We will work to ensure that the (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Executions takes immediate action, and that an independent commission of inquiry is established and prepare a report,” he said.
Tunc said Turkiye would forward that report to the UN Human Rights Council and to the ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“We will continue to defend the right of our sister Aysenur and our Palestinian brothers,” he added.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said the formal procedures for the transfer of the body had been concluded through its embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem.
“The body of the deceased will arrive in Turkiye tomorrow,” it said, adding: “We once again condemn this murder committed by the genocidal Netanyahu government.”
Eygi’s family is still waiting for her body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, said on Wednesday.
“It’s important that a young girl, martyred and sensitive to the world is buried here.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Iran president arrives in Iraqi Kurdistan on day two of visit
- It is Pezeshkian’s first foreign trip abroad since he took office in July
- Tehran in 2022 repeatedly carried out strikes on armed groups in Kurdistan
Irbil: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived Thursday in Iraqi Kurdistan to meet the autonomous region’s leaders, on the second day of a visit aimed at deepening ties with the neighboring country.
It is Pezeshkian’s first foreign trip abroad since he took office in July.
Stepping off his plane in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Pezeshkian was welcomed by regional president Nechirvan Barzani on a red carpet lined with Kurdish Peshmerga forces standing at attention with rifles at their sides.
Pezeshkian held talks with Barzani and Kurdistan’s prime minister, Masrour Barzani, before heading to Sulaimaniyah, a city where the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party wields influence including in the local security services.
On Wednesday, the first leg of his three-day visit, Pezeshkian announced in Baghdad the signing of more than a dozen agreements to strengthen ties between Iran and Iraq.
His trip comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups and complicated Iraq’s relations with the United States.
Iran’s ties with Iraqi Kurdistan have improved in recent months, aided by efforts to neutralize Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, which have long operated in the region.
Tehran in 2022 repeatedly carried out strikes on armed groups in Kurdistan, before Iraq in March 2023 signed a security agreement with Iran. Baghdad committed to disarm these groups and relocate them from border areas to camps.
“We have succeeded... in regulating the security situation in the border areas,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani said on Wednesday, reiterating Iraq’s refusal to allow any acts of aggression to be launched against Iran from its territory.
Iran had accused the Iranian Kurdish opposition of smuggling weapons from Iraq and launching attacks on its security forces.
It also accused these movements of fueling protests that shook Iran after the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd arrested by the morality police.
