Explosion
Explosion in northern Iraq kills 9 policemen: Iraq officials
An explosive device went off in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least nine members of the Iraqi federal police force who were on patrol, Iraqi security officials said.
Among the fatalities was an officer with the rank of major, according to a tweet from a military spokesman, Yahya Rasool. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the village of Ali al-Sultan in the Riyadh district of the province of Kirkuk.
Read more: Iranian Guard attacks militant group in Iraq amid unrest
Rasool added that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had been briefed about the attack. An investigation was underway.
Two Iraqi security officials said nine were killed and clarified that the explosive device was a bomb. They said another three policemen were wounded in altercations with militants that broke out following the explosion, without elaborating.
The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
On Wednesday, three Iraqi soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded during a security operation in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad. Among those killed was the commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade.
Read more: Heavy gunfire rocks Iraq's Green Zone amid violent protests
No one claimed responsibility for that attack either, but remnants of the militant Islamic State group are active in the area and have claimed similar attacks in Iraq in the past.
IS was defeated and lost all territory it once controlled in Syria and Iraq, with its last stronghold in Syria falling to the U.S.-backed campaign in 2019. However, sleeper cells remain and have carried out attacks that have killed scores of Iraqis and Syrians.
In Iraq, the militants have successfully exploited security gaps across a patch of territory in the north because of an ongoing dispute between Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish-run semi-autonomous region of Iraq.
Rural areas of Kirkuk, Diyala, Ninevah and Salahaddin provinces in particular have been difficult to police, with Iraqi security forces spread thin and IS militants routinely terrorizing local residents. At times they have managed to overrun towns overnight due to the security gaps.
Biscuit factory explosion kills youth in Dhaka's Kodomtoli
A 20-year-old youth died after an oven exploded in a biscuit factory in Dhaka's Kodomtoli Thursday, police said.
Md Mozammel, from Sylhet's Habiganj, was working with the oven when it exploded at 9:30pm, his colleague Azhar said. "He received serious injuries to his face and head."
Mozammel was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead at 10:15pm, Bachchu Mia, in-charge of the police outpost at the hospital, said.
The body has been kept at the DMCH morgue for autopsy, he added.
Read more: Two suffer burn injuries in N'ganj AC explosion
Two suffer burn injuries in N'ganj AC explosion
Two youths suffered burn injuries and three fell sick inhaling toxic gas due to an explosion in the air conditioner (AC) of a recording studio in Narayanganj's Fatullah Monday.
The injured are Baban, son of SM Shamim and Baban's friend Mahin.
The explosion occurred from an unknown source at Mark Video Recording at Monday noon, leaving the duo injured, said Shahadat Hossain, an emergency doctor at Narayanhanj's Khanpur hospital.
Witnesses said the recording of songs and music videos was going on at the studio on the ground floor of a building since morning.
Also read: 4 including three of a family suffer burns in Manikganj gas explosion
The air conditioner (AC) of Mark Video Recording suddenly exploded at noon, affecting many people around the building. Three of them fell ill as they inhaled the toxic gas.
The injured were rushed to Khanpur hospital. Of them, Baban and Mahin were later shifted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) as their condition deteriorated.
One of them suffered 30 percent and the other suffered 45 percent burn injuries, said Dr Shahadat Hossain.
Another Bangladeshi youth loses a leg in Myanmarese landmine explosion
A second Bangladeshi man in less than 3 weeks has lost a leg in a landmine explosion near the border with Myanmar along Naikhongchhari of Bandarban.
The injured was identified as Abdul Kader, 27, a resident of Chherakum area in Dochhari union under the upazila. Several organs of his body including eyes were also damaged in the explosion, Md Imran, chairman of the Union Parishad, told UNB.
He was first rushed to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital in critical condition, the chairman said.
Kader stepped on the mine when he drifted across the border to bring back his cows around 8pm on Tuesday, said Mohammad Hossain, who brought him to the hospital.
Read: Mine explosion inside Myanmar kills Rohingya teen, wounds another
Dr Tarekul Islam, medical officer of the hospital, said Kader's leg was severed from the knee down and eyes were also damaged badly.
He was shifted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for better treatment as his condition was stated to be critical, he added.
Mentionable, Rohingya teen identified as Omar Farooq was killed and another critically injured in a landmine explosion inside Myanmar along the country's border with Bangladesh early Sunday.
On September 16, another Bangladeshi youth was seriously injured in a landmine explosion along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban.
Also read: Rohingya man killed in Myanmar landmine blast near Bandarban Border
Twelve mortar shells have been fired by Myanmar army on Bangladesh territory so far. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh warned Myanmar over it.
At least 4 killed, 10 hurt in blast near Kabul mosque
At least four people are dead and 10 wounded after explosion went off near a mosque in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul on Friday, with a hospital confirming the number of casualties.
A column of black smoke rose into the sky and shots rang out several minutes after the blast in the city's diplomatic quarter.
The Italian Emergency Hospital in Kabul said it had received 14 casualties and that four people were dead on arrival.
Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the blast targeted worshippers leaving the mosque after Friday prayers.
Interior Minister spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the blast went off on the main road near the mosque. He said the cause was under investigation. Takor said police teams were at the site and that an investigation was underway.
Mosques have previously been a target for attacks.
The blast took place near the Wazir Akbar Khan mosque which, in 2020, was struck by a bomb that killed two people, including the mosque’s prayer leader.
Six of family injured in gas pipeline explosion in Keraniganj
Six members of a family suffered critical burn injuries in an explosion in the gas pipeline of their house in the Jinjira area of Keraniganj early on Tuesday.
The injured are Begum, 60, Iduni Begum, 50, Sonia Akter, 26, Md Sahadat Hossain, 20, Maria Akter, 8, and Md Yasin, 12.
The explosion occurred around 4.30am in the family house in Jinjira's Mandail, said Mamun Ur Rashid, officer-in-charge of Keraniganj Model police station.
Also read: 3 of family die from electrocution in Cumilla
The injured were rescued and rushed to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery under Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), he said.
“The condition of the injured in is critical,” said Bacchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH police outpost.
Also read: 3 of family killed in Pabna road crash
India blows up two illegal skyscrapers
In nine seconds flat, two skyscrapers built illegally in the city of Noida near the Indian capital some nine years ago were razed by a controlled explosion on Sunday afternoon.
Exactly at 2.30 pm, the 40-storey twin towers -- Apex and Ceyane -- were brought down with the use of 3,700kg of explosives, as millions of Indians glued to their TV sets to watch the spectacle live.
The twin towers became the country's largest ever highrises to be imploded.
Also read: How India plans to blow up two illegal skyscrapers near Delhi
India's Supreme Court, in August last year, ordered the demolition of the twin towers built by private developer Supertech for violation of various building norms.
Utkarsh Mehta of Edifice Engineering, the company entrusted with the demolition job, said, "As expected, the explosion triggered vibrations like that of a minor earthquake. We achieved 100% success."
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Local civic authorities had earlier ensured the evacuation of residents of all housing societies in the vicinity of the twin towers. Stray dogs were also shifted to animal shelters, officials said.
"The nearby Noida Expressway was shut for 45 minutes for the demolition. Hospitals in the city were on alert and 8-10 ambulances kept at standby in case of any untoward situation," a police officer said.
Demolitions of highrises are rare in India. Two years ago, authorities in the southern state of Kerala razed two luxury waterfront highrises for flouting environmental norms.
1 dead, 9 injured in gas explosion at Missouri home
A gas explosion Monday at a southeast Missouri home killed one person and injured nine others, authorities said.
The explosion happened around 7 a.m. in Wyatt, a town of about 280 people that's about 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of St. Louis, Capt. Barry Morgan with the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office said. He said authorities were trying to determine whether a water heater or stove were to blame.
He identified the person killed only as a man in his mid-20s. Nine other people — the youngest just 6 months old — had serious or critical burn injuries. Several were flown to hospitals in St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee.
Also read: Officials: Fire at Coptic church in Cairo kills 41, hurts 14
“That is a ton of people in a house," he said. “So that’s what we’re trying to determine why there were so many people in there, because when I arrived on scene, it was just there was victims lying everywhere, badly burned."
The garage of a neighboring home also caught fire, but no one inside that structure was hurt, Morgan said.
Also read: Deputy coroner: House explosion in southern Indiana kills 3
The State Fire Marshal and a state propane commission were investigating.
2 killed in AC explosion at Gazipur factory
Two people were killed due to an explosion in the air conditioner (AC) of an apparel factory in Gazipur Sadar upazila Sunday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Sagor, 22, and Sohel, employees of an AC repair company.
Read: 2 killed as truck hits bike on Dhaka-Tangail highway
"The explosion happened as they were repairing an AC at Elegant Group's Cassiopea Fashion factory in the Hotapara area around 5:30pm. Sagor and Sohel died on the spot," SM Azizul Hoque, assistant superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police, said.
The bodies were sent to Shaheed Taj Uddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital for autopsies, he added.
Mass casualties feared following explosion in Sitakunda's BM Container Depot
A fire that broke out Saturday night following an explosion at BM Container Depot, an inland container depot in Chattrogram's Sitakunda, has left hundreds including fire service officials and policemen injured and is feared to have killed many.
Four people have already succumbed to their injuries, Panchlaish Police Station Sub-Inspector Nurul Alam told UNB. However, this number is expected to rise significantly.
Around 200 injured persons have so far been taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH). Ambulances carrying injured persons were still coming to the hospital nearly three hours after the explosion.
Early accounts indicate an initial fire at the depot broke out around 9:45pm.
Chattogram Fire Service and Civil Defence Assistant Director Faruk Hossain said as firefighters worked to put out the flame, there was a large explosion in one of the containers around 11pm, followed by a series of small ones, and since then the fire has been out of control.
"The explosion was heard within a radius of 4km from the spot," Faruk added.
Sixteen firefighting units have so far been dispatched to fight the flames but they were yet to tame it till the filing of this report. Firefighters from Cumilla and Feni are also joining them, but the presence of highly flammable chemicals in the containers has complicated the situation.
"We are trying our best. We don't know when we will be able to control the fire fully as the number of containers is huge. We don't know what kind of products are there inside the containers but we are informed that some containers contain imported chemicals that complicated the situation," one of the firefighters said.
President of the association of inland container depot owners Nurul Qayyum Khan said he suspects the explosion may have occurred due to a container with a shipment of hydrogen peroxide that was to be exported in the coming days.
Chattogram Civil Surgeon Ilias Chowdhury has requested everyone to rush to the blood bank of CMCH and donate blood.
Doctors from nearby government and private hospitals have been requested to report to CMCH as the tide of injured persons arriving there has been unrelenting.
Bangladesh Red Crescent Society volunteers are working with the hospital authorities to collect blood from the donors.
At the request of the civil surgeon, many doctors and nurses have joined the doctors at CMCH to deal with the situation.
"It is not yet clear what caused the fire. But I think it started from a container. Arrangements are being made to ensure that the injured get the best treatment; we will bear all costs," BM Container Depot Director Mujibur Rahman told UNB.
"Those who have sustained injuries will get maximum compensation. Also, we will take responsibilities for all the victims' families," he added.
BM Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladeshi joint venture, was set up as an inland container depot (ICD) which is operating from May 2011, one of 19 such ICDs located in Chattogram.
The chairman of the depot is Dutch businessman Bert Pronk, who has other investments too in Bangladesh, while the managing director is Mustafizur Rahman of the Smart Group of Industries.
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