Dozens kidnapped in northwest Nigeria after bandits invite them to talks

-
By Reuters and Posted by TOE Armed bandits in northwest Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting ‌about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on ‌Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security. Police said 39 people were seized on Sunday ​when they went to a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of northwest Zamfara State. Some local residents and officials said the number could be as ‌high as 50. According to ⁠a Zamfara State Police Command statement, the victims were meeting relatives of a bandit leader in ⁠an attempt to broker peace and ease restrictions on movement imposed on the community. Zamfara is at the centre of a long-running security ​crisis in ​which armed groups, locally referred ​to as bandits, carry ‌out mass kidnappings, killings and village raids. The violence has disrupted farming and displaced thousands. Security forces have deployed personnel and...
Post a Comment

Rescue efforts halted after South African building collapse where 33 died

-

Officials in the South African city of George halted the search for survivors and more bodies on Friday at the site of a collapsed building where 33 people died.

Rescue personnel and volunteers have been combing through the rubble for 11 days, after the five-storey residential building under construction in the city east of Cape Town crumbled, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

The Western Cape government said it now believed 62 people were at the site at the time of the disaster. Twenty-nine people survived after being rescued.

At one stage municipal officials believed 81 people were on site when the building came down.

“The site is empty. We have done our job,” Anton Bredell, a Western Cape provincial official, told reporters.

It is believed that migrants from neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe were working at the construction site as well as South Africans.

A spokesperson for Malawi’s foreign affairs ministry said nine Malawians were confirmed to have died in the incident and 11 had been rescued, two of whom were still in hospital.

The cause of the building collapse has not yet been established. Investigations are under way.

President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the site on Thursday and met families of the victims.

REUTERS



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/cu8lz91

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as fresh tremors further complicate rescue efforts

-
Image
A5.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tremor was part of a series of aftershocks following Friday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which resulted in the collapse of numerous buildings and significant infrastructure damage. The death toll has risen to over 1,600, with more than 3,400 individuals reported missing; these numbers are expected to increase as rescue operations continue. Foreign rescue teams and supplies arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to help the impoverished country cope with an earthquake that killed over 1,600 and left many near the epicentre scrambling for help without proper equipment. The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar’s strongest in a century, jolted the Southeast Asian nation on Friday, leaving 1,644 people dead, 3,408 injured and 139 missing, the military government said. India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that have sent relief ...
Read more

Israel says situation on Lebanon border ‘not sustainable’

-
By James Mackenzie Reuters  Israeli officials and media reacted with satisfaction on Monday after a  long-expected missile attack  by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement appeared to have been largely thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel seemed content to let Sunday’s attack, in retaliation for the  killing of a senior Hezbollah commander  in Beirut last month, count as settled for the moment. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a “crushing blow” from the Israeli strikes but that a longer lasting solution was still needed. “The current situation is not sustainable,” he told a briefing, referring to the tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, a situation mirrored on the other side of the border in southern Lebanon. “Israel will do its duty and return its population to our sovereign territory.” Hopes that children might return for the start of the ...
Read more