Explosion in high-crime area in northern Peru injures 10 people and damages 25 homes
Interior Minister Carlos Malaver said the Thursday night blast in the city of Trujillo could be related to disputes between criminal groups primarily involved in extortion, one of the crimes that has increased the most in Peru in recent years.
The explosion, which also interrupted electric service in the area and affected an unknown number of vehicles, was the second explosion reported in the South American country Thursday. The first went off at a gym in the capital, Lima, but no injuries were immediately reported.
Explosive attacks, especially on small businesses, are reported almost daily by local media in Lima and other Peruvian cities, including in the state of La Libertad, which encompasses Trujillo. Detonations inside public transportation buses, resulting in injuries, have also been reported.
The government of La Libertad has previously acknowledged that crime sometimes overwhelms police. The state's emergency service agency in a statement Friday said some of the people injured in Thursday's blast suffered burns and cuts, but it did not detail their conditions further.
Extortion complaints in Peru totaled 15,989 between January and July of this year, a 28% increase compared to the same period in 2024, according to official data.
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BBC News
36 minutes ago
- BBC News
Villa Baviera: Once a place of horror, now a tourist town - with an uncertain future
With sloping red-tiled roofs, trimmed lawns and a shop selling home-baked ginger biscuits, Villa Baviera looks like a quaint German-style village, nestled in the rolling hills of central Chile. But it has a dark known as Colonia Dignidad, it was home to a secretive religious sect founded by a manipulative and abusive leader who collaborated with the dictatorship of Augusto Schäfer, who established the colony in 1961, imposed a regime of harsh punishments and humiliation on the Germans living there. They were separated from their parents and forced to work from a young also sexually abused many of the children. After Gen Pinochet led a coup in 1973, opponents of his military regime were taken to Colonia Dignidad to be tortured in dark basements. Many of these political prisoners were never seen died in prison in 2010, but some of the German residents remained and have turned the former colony into a tourist destination, with a restaurant, hotel, cabins to rent and even a boating the Chilean government is going to expropriate some of its land to commemorate Pinochet's victims there. But the plans have divided Chile, more than 3,000 people were killed and more than 40,000 tortured during the Pinochet regime, which was in power until 1990. Luis Evangelista Aguayo was one of those who was forcibly "disappeared". His sister, Ana Aguayo, sits by the fire in her house in Parral, the nearest town to Colonia Dignidad. "Luis was quiet, he loved swimming. He wanted to create a fairer world," she Aguayo worked as a school inspector, was a member of the teachers' trade union and was active in the Socialist Party. On 12 September 1973, one day after Pinochet overthrew Chile's elected Socialist President, Salvador Allende, police came to Mr Aguayo's house and arrested him. Two days later, he was sent to the local prison, but on 26 September 1973, police arrived and dragged him into a van. His family never saw him Aguayo says a local farmer came to her house to say that he had seen her brother at the German colony. "My mother and father went to Colonia Dignidad but weren't allowed in," she said."They went everywhere looking for him, at police stations, at the courts, but could get no information. My father died of sorrow because he wasn't able to help him. My 96-year-old mother thinks she can hear him calling 'Mama, come and get me'."Mr Aguayo was one of 27 people from Parral believed to have been killed in Colonia Dignidad, according to an ongoing judicial investigation ordered by the Chilean government. The total number of people murdered here is not known, but there is evidence that this was the final destination of many opponents of the Pinochet regime, including Chilean congressman Carlos Lorca and several other Socialist Party leaders. The Chilean justice ministry says investigations suggest hundreds of political detainees were brought Aguayo supports the government's plan to create a site of memory there. "It was a place of horror and appalling crimes. It shouldn't be a place for tourists to shop or dine at a restaurant. It ought to be a place for remembrance, reflection and for educating future generations, so that it never happens again."But the government's expropriation plans have divided opinion in Villa Baviera, where fewer than 100 adults live. Dorothee Munch was born in 1977 in Colonia Dignidad. "We lived in single-sex dormitories like barracks," she recalls. "From a young age, we had to work, cleaning the dishes for the whole community and collecting firewood."The government plans to expropriate 117 hectares of the 4,829-hectare site, including buildings where torture took place, and sites where victims' bodies were exhumed, then burnt and their ashes Munch disagrees with the expropriation plans because they include the centre of the village, encompassing the residents' homes and shared businesses including a restaurant, hotel, bakery, butchers and a dairy. "We lived under a system of fear, we are victims too. We are rebuilding our lives and this will make us victims once more. Perhaps people my age could re-locate, but for the older residents it would be devastating." Erika Tymm arrived in Colonia Dignidad from Germany in 1962, aged two. Separated from her parents, she remembers crying at night for her mother. Like several other people from the colony, she says she was given electric shocks as a child. She also opposes the expropriation plans and wants to stay living in the same place. "I want to be with people who understand what I went through."Chilean Minister for Justice and Human Rights Jaime Gajardo Falcón told the BBC that the government took the decision to expropriate the area in which the main buildings of the ex-colony are concentrated. "These were sites of political detention, of torture, surveillance and training of state agents to commit crimes against humanity." The expropriation decree was published in July. Over the next few months, the state will determine the value of the expropriated assets, he residents and former residents of Villa Baviera have written to the Chilean president expressing their concern about the expropriation plans and asking to be involved in discussions about it. They have hired a public relations firm to handle their relations with the media and a representative of this firm accompanied the BBC on its visit to the the BBC spoke to several other inhabitants and former inhabitants of Colonia Dignidad who support the plan to create a memorial site. Georg Klaube lived in the Colonia Dignidad from 1962 – when he arrived from Germany with his parents aged two – until 2010. Like many boys in Colonia Dignidad, he says he was given electric shocks, forced to take psychotropic drugs and was sexually abused by Schäfer."Every night I was taken to a building, I was stripped naked, they would put a black towel on my face and electric shocks were applied, here, here, here," he says, pointing to his genitals, his throat, his feet and under his arms. "I think we should have a memorial because so much cruelty happened here to both Germans and Chileans. I cannot believe there is now a restaurant in the place where so many children's tears, urine and blood flowed." Mr Klaube is part of a legal action – supported by an association of former and current Colonia Dignidad inhabitants – which claims that the leaders of Villa Baviera are not sharing out the income of the former colony fairly. They want the government to ensure that when the expropriation takes place, the indemnification payment is distributed amongst all residents and former the other victims that support the expropriation plans are former political prisoners who were tortured in Colonia Dignidad, small farmers who were evicted from their land when the German colony was established and Chileans who lived locally and were sexually abused as children by Schä was arrested in 2005 and in 2006 convicted of sexually abusing 25 children, including five counts of child rape. Several of his accomplices were also convicted. Justice Minister Gajardo says it is important to ensure the horrors that happened here are not forgotten. "Atrocious crimes were committed here. Until now it has been private property. Once it is taken over by the state, Chileans will be able to enter freely and it will become a space for memory and reflection to ensure that such crimes are never committed again."
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Dozens of terrified families evacuated in leafy suburb as army bomb squad is deployed to 'suspicious object' under car
A specialist army bomb squad has carried out controlled explosions in a leafy Hertfordshire suburb after a 'suspicious object' was discovered under a car on Saturday afternoon. Around 50 homes have been evacuated and a 100-metre cordon installed around the scene in Cowley Hill, Borehamwood, as the British Army continue their investigation alongside a significant police presence. Emergency services were called just after 12.30pm today, with Hertfordshire Police arriving first, followed by the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit. Roads close to the area have been closed off, while one witness told Daily Mail that terrified residents - including from 28 'container homes' - were informed by officers they had 'just two minutes to evacuate'. Some, still only in their pyjamas, were ordered to leave immediately or they would be 'arrested for their own safety'. One witness was told by a police officer at the scene that the incident was 'connected to a particular address', but could not provide further detail at this time. Michelle Vince, a former Labour councillor for Hertsmere Borough Council, went down to the scene to help those left stranded after the evacuation. She said: 'People were told to just get out of their homes. They didn't have a lot of clothes on, one little boy didn't have any shoes on. 'And they were dressed in not a lot of clothes from being indoors. It was lucky it was dry, but many of them were not dressed warmly enough. 'Around 4.30pm, Hertsmere Borough Council opened up an evacuation centre in Borehamwood town centre. 'A police officer told me it's taken a lot of resources, but people were, like, left outside and in limbo really, just not knowing exactly what was going to happen. Amber, a mother-of-three, who lives in one of the evacuated container units just off Crown Road said she had just arrived home after being away for a few days when the police arrived. 'I hadn't even got through my door when an officer turned up and said we needed to leave right there and then - or we would be arrested. 'We fled the area for an hour, but when we came back the roads were all cordoned off. After a short while we heard two large bangs go off. 'The residents were left standing in the street, with no food, no toilet, no information about what was happening. 'Most of the families asked to leave are quite vulnerable. My 96-year-old neighbour couldn't even stand up to answer the door to the police and I have another neighbour who is heavily pregnant. 'It's quite concerning to think it could be a targeted attack. We are all vulnerable people here.' Another resident, Priscilla, was evacuated out of her home with her three children - all of whom have disabilities. She said the thought someone might have deliberately planted a device near to their home in a heavily-residential area was 'frightening'. 'My children were still in their pyjamas - but there was no time to get food or clothes, because I had to get my son's medication before we left. 'After we were evacuated, my kids sat outside on a grass verge with blankets around them. We are just very grateful to Michelle Vince for being there to help us with getting clothes and food.' Dan Ozarow, mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood Town council, helped hand out food and blankets to the stranded and said the residents had a 'general sense of bewilderment' about the situation. 'Many were wondering what on earth is happening here. The children were all sitting out on the grass verges, while neighbours were offering food and blankets. 'People were pulling together to help one another'. Scores of residents, including families with young children, remain in the evacuation centre. It is understood Hertsmere Borough Council has tonight also been providing food and much-needed supplies, including clothing and baby milk for those who cannot return to their homes. A statement from Hertsmere Police issued earlier this afternoon said: 'Police are currently in attendance at a scene on Cowley Hill, Borehamwood following the discovery of a suspicious object. 'There has been a 100m cordon put in place while the object is assessed by the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit. 'A number of roads in the area have been closed and officers are assisting with the evacuation of residents. 'We kindly advise the public to avoid the area and motorists to seek an alternative route at this time.'
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
Huge fire at Russian industrial plant that killed 11 started in gunpowder workshop
A fire and explosion at the Elastik industrial plant in Russia 's Ryazan region on Friday resulted in 11 fatalities and 130 injuries. The incident took place in the Shilovsky District, around 250 kilometres southeast of Moscow, with emergency crews continuing search operations into the weekend. According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the blaze originated in a gunpowder workshop, which subsequently triggered the blast. Of those injured, 29 remained hospitalised on Saturday, with 16 transported to medical centres in Moscow, and three individuals were rescued from under the rubble. Local authorities declared Monday a day of mourning in the Ryazan region, marking the second deadly explosion at the Elastik plant in less than four years. A fire at a Russian industrial plant kills 11 and injures 130
