Russian strikes kill five in Ukraine industrial hub of Pavlohrad

By Pavel Polityuk and Anna Pruchnicka Reuters Russian drones pounded central part of the industrial city of Pavlohrad in southeastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing five, as ‌well as striking a petrol station in the capital Kyiv and an international agribusiness facility in Dnipro as Moscow intensifies attacks ‌on logistics and economic targets. Governor Oleksandr Hanzha, writing on Telegram, said Russia deployed drones, artillery and aerial bombs in hitting five districts of in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two more ​people. A total of 76 people were injured, including several children, he said. Photos posted online showed shattered shops and burned-out vehicles in the city, which has acted as a critical supply route for the Ukrainian military connecting central Ukraine to eastern front lines. The attack on the petrol station in Kyiv and on an agribusiness facility run by Bunge in the southeastern city of Dnipro added to Russia’s intensified air campaign in re...

Suspected jihadists kill hundreds in Burkina Faso attack

By Sofia Christensen Reuters

Hundreds were killed in north-central Burkina Faso on Saturday after suspected jihadists opened fire on them as they were digging trenches around a town to protect it from attacks, victims’ relatives and a source who spoke to wounded survivors said.

The attack outside the town of Barsalogho is one of the deadliest since groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State moved into Burkina Faso from neighbouring Mali almost a decade ago, plunging the Sahel nation into a security crisis that contributed to two coups in 2022.

The ruling junta has condemned the violence, but did not say how many people were killed.

Hundreds of wounded people were evacuated to healthcare facilities in the city of Kaya, around 40 kilometres (25 miles)south, where a source who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution said the death toll from the attack was likely higher than 500.

Speaking via telephone on Tuesday, the source said Burkina Faso troops had forced reluctant Barsalogho residents to stop their daily activities and dig trenches around the town to deter insurgents.

Hundreds were at work outside when suspected jihadists attacked, the source said, citing the accounts of several injured victims in Kaya.

“All they could do was lie down on top of each other. It was carnage,” the source said, adding that gunmen also shot at women who were collecting firewood nearby.

Relatives of Barsalogho residents in the capital Ouagadougou issued a joint statement on Sunday relaying a similar chain of events.

They said at least 400 people had been killed, either on the spot or succumbing to injuries later, and that hundreds more were hospitalised between Kaya and the capital Ouagadougou.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the estimated death toll.

The statement accused the army of forcing residents to dig the trenches, beating those who feared reprisals for visibly siding with authorities in an area rife with violent insurgent activity.

Junta spokesman Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He headed a delegation of officials that visited hospitalised survivors in Kaya on Sunday and Barsalogho on Monday.

“The government joins you in prayers for the souls of the deceased,” Ouedraogo told local media during the trip, saying that jihadists had killed people engaged in “community work.”

He lauded health workers, and said the government would cover medical bills and provide humanitarian support.

Civil society have organised blood donations in Kaya, where the diocese declared a day of mourning on Wednesday.

The United States embassy in Ouagadougou on Tuesday said the U.S. “strongly condemns the terrorist attack”.

No group has directly claimed responsibility for the bloodshed. Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin said it had seized control of suspected army headquarters in Barsalogho on Aug. 24.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/6y5oLPf

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