Attack
Govt condemns attack on ethnic minority students in Dhaka
The interim government has strongly condemned Wednesday’s attack on a peaceful gathering by a group of ethnic minority students in front of NTCB in Motijheel area of the capital.
The government has ordered an investigation into the attack, and two persons have already been arrested in this connection, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said on Thursday.
Other perpetrators are being identified and will soon be arrested, he said.
All miscreants will be brought to justice, according to a statement of the interim government.
Read: Several injured in clash in front of NCTB office
Imbibed in the true spirits of the July mass uprising, the government reiterated in unequivocal terms that there is no place for mob violence, racial hatred, and bigotry in Bangladesh.
"The government warns that anyone involved in activities that harm harmony, peace, and law and order shall face stern actions without discrimination," the statement reads.
1 month ago
Attack on student coordinator in Lalmonirhat: 2 arrested
A student coordinator was injured in an attack in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat on Thursday morning. Police have arrested two individuals in connection with the incident.
The victim, Golam Azam (24), was assaulted near his home in the Kotali area of the municipality while walking on the road. The attackers, identified as neighbors Dedul Mia (58), his son Sajib Mia alias Tiger (25) and Rahidul Islam (31), reportedly beat him over a personal dispute, according to police and locals.
Azam’s elder brother, Masud Alam, filed a case over the incident and Patgram Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Ashrafuzzaman Sarkar confirmed the arrests of Sajib Mia alias Tiger and Dedul Mia later that day.
Case filed over attack on Anti-discrimination Student Movement convoy in Bagerhat; 5 arrested
Following the attack, Azam was rushed to the Patgram Upazila Health Complex by his family and locals. As his condition deteriorated, he was later transferred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital for advanced treatment.
In response to the attack, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement staged a protest march in the city and organized a rally at the Chowringhee intersection, demanding justice for the victim.
1 month ago
At least 2 dead, 60 injured as car plows into German Christmas market in suspected attack
A car rammed into a bustling outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on Friday evening, leaving at least two people dead and over 60 injured in what authorities believe to be a deliberate act.
The driver, arrested shortly after the incident, drove into the market around 7 p.m. as holiday shoppers crowded the area. Footage released by the German news agency dpa shows the suspect being apprehended, with a police officer pointing a handgun at him before other officers arrived to detain him.
Among the deceased were an adult and a toddler, while 15 of the injured remain in critical condition. Authorities cautioned that additional fatalities could not be ruled out.
Two Charged for Supplying Tech Used in Deadly Iran-Backed Drone Attack
The incident devastated the city, with its mayor visibly emotional. In response, several other German towns canceled their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and to show solidarity with Magdeburg.
The suspect, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who has been living in Germany since 2006, practiced medicine in Bernburg, roughly 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg, according to Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang. Officials believe he acted alone, with Saxony-Anhalt Governor Reiner Haseloff describing the tragedy as a “terrible loss.”
Magdeburg, a city of 240,000 west of Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt’s capital, is no stranger to such violence. The attack comes eight years after an Islamic extremist killed 13 people by driving a truck into a Berlin Christmas market.
Chhatra League and Teen Gang attack anti-discrimination student leaders in Kushtia
Christmas markets are a beloved German tradition, cherished for centuries and integral to the festive season. However, despite assurances from German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser last month that there were no specific threats, the attack has cast a shadow over this year’s celebrations.
Sirens echoed through Magdeburg’s streets on Friday, contrasting sharply with the market’s festive decorations. Resident Dorin Steffen described the scene as a “dark day,” adding, “We are shaking—full of sympathy for the victims and their families.”
Flags will be lowered to half-staff across Saxony-Anhalt, with a memorial service planned at Magdeburg’s cathedral. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, NATO’s secretary-general, and other leaders expressed their condolences. Scholz tweeted: “My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.”
Friday’s tragedy reverberated beyond Germany, with messages of solidarity pouring in from international leaders. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s CEO, Jan-Christian Dreesen, called for a moment of silence at the club’s stadium after a soccer match that evening.
The city, state, and nation now grapple with the aftermath of what officials have called one of the darkest moments in Magdeburg’s history.
1 month ago
Two injured in violent attack over land dispute in Cumilla
Two people were injured in a violent attack allegedly carried out by their paternal cousins following a land dispute in the Alekharchar area of Cumilla’s Adarsha Sadar upazila on Friday.
Locals said the victims are Mahbubur Rahman and his sister, Sheuli Akter.
Armed attackers rob bank officials of Tk 7 lakh; 4 injured
A video of the attack has gone viral on social media.
Sheuli went to Kotwali Police Station to file a case over the matter but police denied to take the case on Saturday.
When contacted on Saturday evening, officer-in-charge of the police station said, "The case is yet to be registered and we are looking into the matter."
Witnesses said that the victims’ paternal cousins—Mazharul Haque, his son Mahi, and Mokhlesur Rahman—brutally assaulted Mahbubur with bamboo sticks.
According to Sheuli, the trouble began when Mahbubur confronted them as they attempted to demolish a boundary wall she had built to protect her legally purchased property. “They attacked my brother with bamboo sticks and local weapons, causing serious injuries. He has been hospitalised with head injuries,” Sheuli said.
She also alleged that the attackers demanded Tk 5 lakh as extortion and destroyed the boundary wall, resulting in a loss of Tk 1 lakh.
Abdul Karim, Sheuli’s husband, said that their family has endured harassment and threats from the accused for several months. “Despite having all the legal documents in our names, they continue to verbally abuse and physically harm my wife’s family,” he emphasised, highlighting the prolonged nature of the conflict.
When asked, Mokhlesur Rahman acknowledged that Sheuli is the legitimate owner of the disputed land but claimed that Mazharul Haque refuses to recognise her ownership.
Five injured in attack at Narsingdi Bar Association office
4 months ago
Russia hits Ukrainian grain depots again as a foreign ship tries out Kyiv's new Black Sea corridor
KYIV, Ukraine,Aug 16(AP/UNB) Russia resumed its targeting of grain infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, local officials said Wednesday, using drones in overnight strikes on storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Kyiv has increasingly used for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime export deal through the Black Sea.
Read also:Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting rescue workers with consecutive missile strikes
At the same time, a loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa since Russia's full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.
Read also:Russia promises retaliation after Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in 2nd sea attack in a day
Ukraine's economy, crunched by the war, is heavily dependent on farming. Its agricultural exports, like those of Russia, are also crucial for world supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.
Read also:US to send $200 million in military aid to Ukraine
After the Kremlin tore up a month ago an agreement brokered last summer by the U.N. and Turkey to ensure safe Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher, some European countries have balked at the consequences for local grain prices, and the Danube ports can't handle the same volume as seaports.
Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said the primary targets of Russia's overnight drone bombardment were port terminals and grain silos, including at the ports in the Danube delta. Air defenses managed to intercept 13 drones, according to Kiper.
It was the latest attack amid weeks of aerial strikes as Russia has targeted the Danube delta ports, which are only about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Romanian border. The Danube is Europe's second-longest river and a key transport route.
Meanwhile, the container ship departing Odesa was the first vessel to set sail since July 16, according to Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister. It had been stuck in Odesa since February 2022.
The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte was traveling down a temporary corridor that Ukraine asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify. The United States has warned that the Russian military is preparing for possible attacks on civilian shipping vessels in the Black Sea.
Sea mines also make the voyage risky, and ship insurance costs are likely to be high for operators. Ukraine told the IMO it would would "provide guarantees of compensation for damage."
Last Sunday, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a Palau-flagged cargo ship in the south Black Sea. According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Sukru Okan was heading northwards to the Ukrainian Danube River port of Izmail.
Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed that the Joseph Schulte was steaming south.
The Joseph Schulte is carrying more than 30,000 tons of cargo, with 2,114 containers, including food products, according to Kubrakov.
He said the corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi since the outbreak of war.
On the war's front line, Ukrainian officials claimed another milestone in Kyiv's grinding counteroffensive, with Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar saying troops have retaken a village in the eastern Donetsk region.
The village of Urozhaine is near Staromaiorske, a hamlet that Ukraine also claimed to have recaptured recently. The claims could not be independently verified.
Ukraine appears to be trying to drive a wedge between Russian forces in the south, but it is up against strong defensive lines and is advancing without air support.
Also Wednesday, the Russian military said it shot down three drones over the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and blamed the attack on Ukraine. No damage or casualties were reported.
1 year ago
Swechasebak League leader among 3 injured in attack in Kushtia
A leader of Swechasebak League was shot in an attack by miscreants over establishing supremacy in Bheramara upazila of Kushtia district on Wednesday night.
The victim was identified as Sanjay Kumar Pramanik, 35, president of Bheramara upazila unit of Swechasebak League and son of Dulal Chandra Pramanik.
Quoting witnesses, Zahurul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bheramara Police Station, said a group of miscreants opened fire on Sanjay and his followers when he was returning home from the party office around 11 pm, leaving him injured.
Student injured in knife attack in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur
Two supporters of Sanjay—Belal Hossain and Shyamol Sardar—were also injured in the attack.
They were taken to Bheramara Upazila Health Complex from where the doctors referred Sanjay to Kushtia General Hospital due to deterioration of his condition.
Belal, who was also injured in the attack, said that Mustafizur Rahman Shobhon, sports affairs secretary of district unit Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal’s (Jasad) Jubo Jote led 40-50 people in carrying out the attack on them.
BCL attacks on Nurul Hoque Nur at DU; 20 hurt
However, no complaint has been lodged yet and action will be taken after getting complaints from the victim, said OC.
Attacks on sit-ins: BNP’s protest rally begins at Suhrawardy Udyan
1 year ago
Attack on Hero Alam: 2 accused put on 3-day remand
A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed on a two-day remand the two accused who were arrested over attack on Hero Alam, an independent candidate of Dhaka-17 by-election.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arfatul Rakib passed the order.
The investigating officer of the case, sub-inspector Noor Uddin of Banani Police Station, sought a seven-day remand for the accused- Chanoar Kazi and Biplab Hossain.
Meanwhile, the court ordered sending other five accused - Mahmudul Hasan Mehdi, Mujahid Khan, Ashiq Sarkar, Hriday Sheikh, and Sohail Mollah- to jail.
Action against those involved in Hero Alam assault: EC Alamgir
Earlier on Monday, Hero Alam was physically assaulted while leaving a polling centre in Dhaka’s Banani area.
He was taken to a hospital in Rampura around 5:30 pm.
Those attacking Hero Alam were trying to make Dhaka-17 by-polls controversial: Arafat condemns incident
Following the assault, Hero Alam's personal assistant filed a case at Banani police station accusing 15 to 20 unidentified individuals of perpetrating the attack.
Earlier, Hero Alam alleged that his agents were being “barred from entering the polling stations” and that several of them were “harassed by AL activists and leaders.”
4 arrested over attack on Hero Alam
1 year ago
At least 25 killed in rebel attack on Ugandan school near Congo border
Suspected Ugandan rebels with ties to the Islamic State group attacked a school near the Congo border, killing at least 25 people, abducting others and setting a dormitory on fire, officials said Saturday.
Police said the rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, who have been launching attacks for years from their bases in volatile eastern Congo, carried out the raid late Friday on Lhubiriha Secondary School in the border town of Mpondwe.
Also Read: At least 15 people killed and dozens injured in bus crash in Mali
The school, co-ed and privately owned, is located in the Ugandan district of Kasese, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Congo border.
"A dormitory was set on fire and a food store looted. So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital," police said in a statement, adding that eight others were in critical condition.
Also Read: In Uganda, a recent ban on charcoal making disrupts a lucrative but destructive business
A government official and a military spokesman said others were abducted.
It was not immediately clear if all of the victims were students.
Police said Ugandan troops tracked the attackers into Congo's Virunga National Park. The military confirmed in a statement that Ugandan troops inside Congo "are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted."
Also Read: Recycling lake litter, Ugandan makes innovative tourist boat
Joe Walusimbi, an official representing Uganda's president in Kasese, told The Associated Press over the phone that authorities were trying to verify the number of victims and those abducted.
"Some bodies were burnt beyond recognition," he said.
Winnie Kiiza, an influential political leader and a former lawmaker from the region, condemned the "cowardly attack" on Twitter. She said "attacks on schools are unacceptable and are a grave violation of children's rights," adding that schools should always be "a safe place for every student."
The Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years, targeting civilians, in remote parts of eastern Congo.
The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has been in power since 1986.
The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni's policies. At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not from the scene of the latest attack.
A Ugandan military assault later forced the ADF into eastern Congo, where many rebel groups are able to operate because the central government has limited control there.
The group has since established ties with the Islamic State group.
In March , at least 19 people were killed in Congo by suspected ADF extremists.
Ugandan authorities for years have vowed to track down ADF militants even outside Ugandan territory. In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against the group.
1 year ago
Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 10; several others trapped in rubble
The mayor of the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih said 10 people have died following Russian missile strikes overnight that hit civilian sites including a residential building.
Oleksandr Vilkul said 28 other people had been wounded and at least one person was believed to be under the rubble. In an early afternoon update Tuesday, Vilkul wrote on the Telegram app that a dozen injured people had been rushed to city hospitals.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
At least six people were killed when Russian missiles hit civilian buildings in an overnight attack Tuesday in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said, as rescuers scrambled to retrieve people believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The strike involving cruise missiles hit a five-story residential building, which was engulfed in fire, Gov. Serhiy Lysak of the Dnipropetrovsk region wrote on Telegram.
Also Read: Ukraine recaptures village as Russian forces hold other lines, fire on fleeing civilians elsewhere
After initial reports of three dead, Kryvyi Rih mayor Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on the social media app that the death toll had risen to a least six, and seven people were feared trapped under the rubble. Authorities initially said at least two dozen people were wounded.
The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia's war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.
Images from the scene relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling the blaze as pockets of fire poked through multiple broken windows of a building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the nearby ground.
Also Read: Top UN court allows a record 32 countries to intervene in Ukraine's genocide case against Russia
"More terrorist missiles," he wrote. "Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people."
The aerial assault was the latest barrage of strikes by Russian forces that targeted various parts of Ukraine overnight.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was attacked with Iranian-made Shahed drones, and the surrounding region was shelled, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. The shelling wounded two civilians in the town of Shevchenkove, southeast of Kharkiv.
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, separately reported early Tuesday that the drone strike damaged a utilities business and a warehouse in the city's northeast. Neither Terekhov nor Syniehubov referenced any casualties within Kharkiv.
Also Read: A dam collapses and thousands face the deluge — often with no help — in Russian-occupied Ukraine
The Kyiv military administration reported that the capital came under fire as well on Tuesday, but the incoming missiles were destroyed by air defenses and there were no immediate reports of any casualties there.
Air defenses overnight shot down 10 out of 14 cruise missiles and one of four Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russian forces, Ukraine's General Staff said on its Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine's ground troops said the country's forces were "moving forward" outside the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Telegram that Russian forces are "losing positions on the flanks," while Ukrainian troops were conducting "defensive" operations in the area.
For weeks, Ukrainian officials have been reporting small gains west of Bakhmut, which was largely devastated in the war's longest and bloodiest battle before Moscow's forces took control last month.
Also Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing what it said was a German-made Leopard 2 tank and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicle captured from Ukrainian forces. According to the ministry, the video was shot by Russian soldiers after fierce fighting in the southern Zaporizhzhia, and a soldier is seen pointing at the immobilized vehicles. It wasn't immediately possible to verify the video's authenticity.
Like the Bakhmut area, battle zones in Zaporizhzhia are one of several places along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line where Ukrainian forces have been intensifying their counteroffensive operations.
On Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the country's troops recaptured a total of seven villages spanning 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of eastern Ukraine over the past week — small successes in the early phases of a counteroffensive.
Russian officials didn't confirm those Ukrainian gains, which were impossible to verify and could be reversed in the to-and-fro of war.
The advance amounted to only small bits of territory and underscored the difficulty of the battle ahead for Ukrainian forces, who will have to fight meter by meter to regain the roughly one-fifth of their country under Russian occupation.
1 year ago
Ukraine recaptures village as Russian forces hold other lines, fire on fleeing civilians elsewhere
Ukraine's military on Sunday reported recapturing a southeastern village as Russian forces claimed to repel multiple attacks in the area, while a regional official said three people were killed when Moscow's troops opened fire at a boat evacuating people from Russian-occupied areas to Ukrainian-held territory along a flooded front line far to the south.
The battlefield showdown in the southeast and chaotic scenes from inundated southern Ukraine marked the latest upheaval and bloodshed in Russia's war in Ukraine, now in its 16th month.
Also Read: Ukraine's dam collapse is both a fast-moving disaster and a slow-moving ecological catastrophe
Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the Kherson region, said on his Telegram account that a 74-year-old man who tried to protect a woman was among those who died in the attack on evacuees, which wounded another 10. An Associated Press team on site saw three ambulances drop off injured evacuees at a hospital, one of whom was splattered with blood and whisked by stretcher into the emergency room.
The Kherson region straddles the Dnieper River and has suffered heavy flooding since last week's breach of a dam that Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of causing. Russian forces occupy parts of the region on the eastern side of the river.
Many civilians have said Russian authorities in occupied areas were forcing would-be evacuees to present Russian passports before taking them to safety. Since then, many small boats have shuttled from Ukrainian-held areas on the west bank across the river to rescue desperate civilians stuck on rooftops, in attics and other islands of dry amid the deluge.
Also Read: Top UN court allows a record 32 countries to intervene in Ukraine's genocide case against Russia
To the northeast, nearly half-way up the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, Ukrainian forces said they drove out Russian fighters from the village of Blahodatne, in the partially occupied Donetsk region. Ukraine's 68th Separate Hunting Brigade posted a video on Facebook that showed soldiers installing a Ukrainian flag on a damaged building in the village.
Myroslav Semeniuk, spokesman for the brigade, told The Associated Press that an assault team captured six Russian troops after entering several buildings where some 60 soldiers were holed up. "The enemy keeps shelling us but this won't stop us," Semeniuk said. "The next village we plan to reclaim is Urozhayne. After that, (we'll proceed) further south."
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian troops in the area had advanced up to 1.5 kilometers (about a mile) and had taken control of another village, Makarivka.
Also Read: A dam collapses and thousands face the deluge — often with no help — in Russian-occupied Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian counteroffensive actions were underway. But while the recapture of Blahodatne pointed to a small Ukrainian advance, Western and Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly cautioned that efforts to expel Russian troops more broadly are expected take time. Russia has made much of how its troops have held their ground elsewhere.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday continued to insist that it was repelling Ukrainian attacks in the area. It said in a statement that Ukrainian attempts at offensive operations on the southern Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia axes of the frontline over the past 24 hours had been "unsuccessful."
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region, insisted that Blahodatne and two other villages in the region were in a "gray area" in terms of who controls them. However, Rogov said in a Telegram post that Russian fighters had been forced to leave the village of Neskuchne in the Donetsk region. In a video, fighters identifying themselves as members of a Ukrainian volunteer force claimed to have taken the village.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has asserted that that Ukraine's counteroffensive had started, and said Ukrainian forces were taking "significant losses."
Also Read: UN aid chief says Ukraine faces `hugely worse' humanitarian situation after the dam rupture
In other developments:
Ukrhydroenergo, Ukraine's hydropower generator, said Sunday that water levels on a reservoir above the ruptured Kakhovka dam continued to decline — at 9.35 meters (30 feet, 6 inches) on Sunday morning, marking a drop of more than seven meters since the dam break on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, below the dam, Prokudin said water levels on the Ukrainian-held west bank were receding, even if more than 32 settlements remained flooded. He said conditions were worse on the Russian-occupied eastern bank, which sits at a lower elevation and where water levels were slower to drop back down.
Also Sunday, the Russian military accused Ukrainian forces of attacking — albeit unsuccessfully — one of its ships in the Black Sea.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the attempted attack took place when six unmanned speedboats targeted Russia's Priazovye reconnaissance vessel that was "monitoring the situation and ensuring security along the routes of the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the southeastern part of the Black Sea."
All the speedboats were destroyed by the Russian military, and the ship didn't sustain any damage, the ministry said. The claim could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.
Ukraine and Russia reported exchanging scores of prisoners of war on Sunday; Russia said 94 of its soldiers were freed and Yermak said 95 Ukrainians were released.
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has signed a decree ordering all Russian volunteer formations to sign contracts with the ministry by July 1, according to his deputy Nikolai Pankov. The move would give the formations legal status and allow them to receive the same state benefits as contract soldiers.
Observers say the move likely targets the Wagner private military company. Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has a long-running feud with the Russian military, said Sunday that the group would not sign such contracts "precisely because Shoigu cannot manage military formations normally."
1 year ago