Bombing at seminary kills 6
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. - Reuters
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Times of Oman
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Bus crash kills dozens of Afghans deported from Iran
Dozens of Afghans recently deported from Iran were killed on Tuesday after a bus crash in western Afghanistan. Citing local authorities, the AFP news agency reported that more than 50 people were killed in the crash. What is known about the crash Spokesperson for the Herat provincial government, Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, told AFP that the bus was carrying Afghans who had been deported from Iran and had been heading to Kabul. Police said the bus first collided with a motorcycle and then hit the truck, which had been carrying fuel, before bursting into flames. "All the passengers were migrants who had boarded the vehicle in Islam Qala," said Saeedi, referring to a border crossing point. Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to German news agency dpa that the victims had been deported from Iran, but said further details were not immediately available. A large number of Afghans — who fled decades of war and humanitarian crises — have returned from Iran in recent months, following pressure from Tehran to force millions of Afghan migrants to leave. According to the UN, over 1.2 million Afghans have returned or have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year alone.
Observer
a day ago
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Indian police exhume human remains in mass-burial investigation
BENGALURU: Indian police have exhumed human remains in a temple town in the country's south, officials said, as part of an investigation into allegations that hundreds of murder and rape victims were secretly buried there from around the mid-1990s. The probe centres on Dharmasthala, home to an 800-year-old temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in the state of Karnataka and is drawing headlines in media nationwide. A former cleaner at the temple told police last month that he had been forced by superiors to dispose of hundreds of bodies over two decades, many of them women and girls showing signs of sexual assault. His allegations were made in a police complaint dated July 4 and seen by Reuters. The man, whose identity authorities have withheld for safety reasons, fled Dharmasthala in 2014 but said he was compelled to speak out now because of lingering guilt. "If the skeletons now exhumed receive respectful funeral rites, those tormented souls will find peace and my sense of guilt could also decrease," he wrote in the complaint. The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the temple said it welcomed a thorough investigation and hoped police would "bring out true facts to light". In the complaint, the former cleaner accused temple officials of forcing him to dispose of the bodies and told police he would name the officials if they protected him and his family. Karnataka's interior minister told the state assembly on Monday that the protection was now in place. The former cleaner said he had secretly exhumed a skeleton from one of the burial sites to prove his claims. A special investigation team formed by the Karnataka government has so far recovered human remains from two of 16 suspected burial sites, according to two senior police officials familiar with the probe. They declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Karnataka's interior minister, Gangadharaiah Parameshwara, said the police have collected bone fragments, soil samples, and other material for testing from two sites thanks to the information from the former cleaner. "The analysis is ongoing. Only once that is complete can we say the investigation has truly begun," Parameshwara said. "My request is to not make this a religious matter." Sachin Deshpande, a lawyer for the complainant, told Reuters "they have found human remains where our client pointed and we are sure that the truth will come out". He declined to make his client available for an interview. The revelations have revived interest in older unsolved cases, including Padmalatha, a college student whose family alleged she was raped and murdered in Dharmasthala in 1986. Padmalatha, like many in India, went by one name. Her sister, Indravathi, said the family buried Padmalatha's body rather than cremating it according to Hindu custom, hoping that would help with any investigations later. "We hope that we will get justice one day for her abduction, rape and murder," said Indravathi, who uses only one name.
Observer
11-08-2025
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Colombian presidential hopeful Uribe dies two months after shooting
BOGOTA: Colombian Senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who was shot in the head at a campaign event two months ago, died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 39, the hospital treating him said. Uribe, a member of a prominent political family and a lawmaker for the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogota on June 7 where he was speaking to try to secure his party's nomination for 2026 elections. His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, announced his death on social media. "I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you", she wrote. "Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children". The capital's Santa Fe Foundation hospital — where supporters held regular vigils during Uribe's treatment and repeated operations — said over the weekend his condition had worsened because of a hemorrhage in his central nervous system. On Monday, it said he had died at 1:56 am. Former President Alvaro Uribe, the leader of the senator's Democratic Centre party and no relation to the deceased lawmaker, wrote on X that "evil destroys everything; they killed hope". "May Miguel's fight be a light that illuminates Colombia's right path", added the former president, who was sentenced by a judge earlier this month to 12 years of house arrest for abuse of process and bribery of a public official. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X he was deeply saddened by the news. "The United States stands in solidarity with his family, the Colombian people, both in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible". Six people are under arrest over the shooting, including two men that the attorney general's office says met in Medellin to plan the assassination. A 15-year-old accused of carrying out the shooting was arrested within hours of the crime, but police have said they are pursuing the "intellectual authors" of the attack. In a video of the boy's June arrest, independently verified by Reuters, he can be heard shouting that he had been hired by a local drug dealer. Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed on Monday to catch those responsible. "We will not allow the violent to intimidate or silence political voices needed in our democracy", he wrote on X. His ministry has said there is a 3 billion peso (about $740,000) reward for information leading to the identification and capture of the culprits and that the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates are helping with the investigation. The death of Senator Uribe, a father and stepfather, adds further tragedy to his family's fraught history. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a botched rescue mission after she was kidnapped by the Medellin Cartel, headed by drug lord Pablo Escobar. Uribe himself enjoyed a rapid political rise, as a lawmaker for the right-wing Democratic Centre party and presidential hopeful known for his sharp criticism of leftist President Gustavo Petro's administration. — Reuters
