
Explosion reported at US air base in Japan
TOKYO: An explosion occurred at a Japanese military facility inside a US air base in Okinawa, officials told AFP, with local media reporting non-life-threatening injuries.
A defense ministry spokesman said they had received reports of an explosion at the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) facility inside Kadena Air Base in the southern Japanese region.
Jiji Press and other local media said four injuries had been reported but none were life-threatening.
Public broadcaster NHK said, citing unnamed defense ministry sources, that the explosion may have occurred at a temporary storage site for unexploded bombs, with officials trying to confirm the situation.
'We've heard there was an explosion at the SDF facility and also heard there were injuries but we don't have further details,' Yuta Matsuda, a local official of Yomitan village in Okinawa, told AFP.

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Arab News
12 hours ago
- Arab News
Explosion reported at US air base in Japan
TOKYO: An explosion occurred at a Japanese military facility inside a US air base in Okinawa, officials told AFP, with local media reporting non-life-threatening injuries. A defense ministry spokesman said they had received reports of an explosion at the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF) facility inside Kadena Air Base in the southern Japanese region. Jiji Press and other local media said four injuries had been reported but none were life-threatening. Public broadcaster NHK said, citing unnamed defense ministry sources, that the explosion may have occurred at a temporary storage site for unexploded bombs, with officials trying to confirm the situation. 'We've heard there was an explosion at the SDF facility and also heard there were injuries but we don't have further details,' Yuta Matsuda, a local official of Yomitan village in Okinawa, told AFP.

Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
British soldier arrested in Kenya on rape allegations
A British soldier in Kenya has been arrested on rape allegations, the UK defense ministry said Sunday, confirming a BBC report. 'We can confirm the arrest of a service person in Kenya,' a ministry spokesperson told AFP, adding that no further comment would be made while the matter was being investigated. The BBC reported that the alleged rape happened last month in Nanyuki, a town north of Nairobi close to where a large British base is located. According to the BBC report, the soldier who has been arrested went to a Nanyuki bar with fellow soldiers before the alleged rape happened. The base – British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) – has been the focus of several controversies in Kenya in the past, notably the 2012 murder of a young Kenyan woman. In that case, the woman was last seen alive in the company of a British soldier. Her body was found in a septic tank. There were no arrests, but in 2021 Kenyan police reopened their investigation after Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported that several soldiers had heard one of their colleagues speak the same night about killing the woman. In 2003, the rights group Amnesty International said it had counted 650 rape accusations against British soldiers in Kenya between 1965 and 2001. Kenya, a former British colony, became independent in 1963. BATUK, on its website, says it is the biggest British Army contingent in Africa. It says it conducts training with Kenya's military, and a 'peace support team' also deploys from there across Africa. Under an agreement with Kenya, the British army has primary jurisdiction over the latest case alleging rape.


Saudi Gazette
a day ago
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Colombia presidential hopeful shot in head at rally
BOGOTA — A Colombian presidential candidate is in a critical condition after he was shot three times — reportedly twice in the head — at a campaign event in the capital, Bogotá. Miguel Uribe Turbay, a 39-year-old senator, was attacked while addressing supporters in a park on Saturday. Police arrested a 15-year-old suspect at the scene, the attorney general's office said. Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, called on the nation to pray for his survival. "Miguel is currently fighting for his life. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him," she said. Uribe's Centro Democratico party condemned the attack, calling it a threat to "democracy and freedom in Colombia". Phone footage shared online appears to show the moment when he was shot in the head mid-speech, prompting those gathered to flee in panic. Paramedics said he had been shot in the knee and twice in the head, AFP news agency reported. He was airlifted to a hospital where supporters gathered to hold underwent surgery and was in the first critical hours of recovery, Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said late on Saturday 15-year-old suspect was shot in the leg while police and security officers pursued him after the attack, according to local was arrested carrying a "9mm Glock-type firearm", a statement from the attorney general's office said. An investigation is under government of left-wing President Gustavo Petro said it "categorically" condemned the attack as an "act of violence not only against his person, but also against democracy".Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the "vile attack" and offered a 3bn peso ($730,000; £540,000) reward for information about who may be behind Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the shooting as a "direct threat to democracy".He blamed the attack, without providing examples, on "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government". The suspect's motivation is still later urged Colombians to wish Uribe well, on what he described as a "day of pain", in a video address to the is a "political difference" between Uribe and the government, but it is "only political", he said."What matters most today is that all Colombians focus with the energy of our hearts, with our will to live... on ensuring that Dr Miguel Uribe stays alive," he a right-wing critic of Petro, announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election in October. He has been a senator since is from a prominent political family in Colombia, with links to the country's Liberal Party. His father was a union leader and mother was Diana Turbay, a journalist who was killed in 1991 in a rescue attempt after she had been kidnapped by the Medellin drugs cartel run at the time by Pablo Escobar. — BBC