At last 22 injured in London Underground bomb attack

Agencies
September 15, 2017

London, Sep 15: At least 22 people were injured after a bomb detonated on a packed London Underground train during the monring rush hour on Friday in what police are treating as a "terrorist incident".

Witnesses reported seeing passengers covered in blood and with facial burns and hair coming off at Parsons Green station in west London after the explosion on the train.

"At 8:20 this morning at Parsons Green station there was an explosion on a Tube train. We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device," police counter-terror chief Mark Rowley said.

Twitter user @Rrigs, who posted pictures of a white bucket smouldering on the train, said: "Explosion on Parsons Green District Line train. Fireball flew down carriage and we just jumped out open door".

The bucket looked like the type used by builders and there appeared to be cables coming out of it. According to Sky News, investigators suspect the device did not fully detonate.

The National Health Service said 18 people were taken by ambulance to hospital, while four others made their own way to hospitals.

Rowley said most of the people taken to hospital were being treated for "flash burns". The MI5 intelligence service is assisting investigators.

Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with the injured and will be chairing an emergency cabinet meeting later in the day.

Armed police and sniffer dogs could be seen on the train and around the station, which is set in a leafy suburb of southwest London popular with well-off commuters and filled with chic cafes.

The station was closed, as well as an entire section of the District Line where it is located and police urged people to stay away from the area.

Local residents and businesses rallied together with businesses offering tea and the use of their toilets to local residents unable to get home.

One local resident, Charlie Craven, who was on his way to the station, said he heard a "massive bang".

"I looked around and the first thing I saw was an orange sort of fire, the sort of thing you see in a movie," he said.

The incident is the fifth terror attack in six months in Britain since March, when a lone attacker mowed down pedestrians and stabbed a police officer outside the British parliament.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged Londoners to remain "calm and vigilant".

"As London has proven again and again, we will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism," he said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump said the attack was carried out by a "loser terrorist".

"These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!" he said on Twitter, without explaining further.

Passengers described chaotic scenes at the station in the normally quiet part of west London.
Louis Hather, 21, was travelling to work and was three carriages down from where the explosion took place.

"I could smell the burning. Like when you burn plastic," he told AFP.

Hather saw a woman with burns being stretchered off.

He was trampled on as passengers stampeded out of the station and his leg was badly cut and bruised.

Sally Faulding, a 51-year-old teacher, said: "People were falling over each other."

Richard Aylmer-Hall, 52, told the Press Association: "There was panic, lots of people shouting, screaming, lots of screaming".

"I saw two women being treated by ambulance crews," he said.

Another witness, Sham, told the radio station he had seen a man with blood all over his face.
"There were a lot of people limping and covered in blood," he said.

Nicole Linnell, 29, who works for a fashion label, said: "We saw people running down the tracks. About 30 or 40 people.

"It was absolutely terrifying".

Natasha Wills, assistant director of operations at London Ambulance Service said: "Our initial priority is to assess the level and nature of injuries".

She said the ambulance service had sent "multiple resources" to the station, including a hazardous area response team.

A total of 35 people have been killed in four previous attacks in London and Manchester since March.
Three of those involved a vehicle ploughing into pedestrians.

The other attack was a bombing in May at a pop concert by US star Ariana Grande in Manchester which killed 22 people including children.

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News Network
November 4,2024

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Bengaluru: In a chilling case of moral policing gone violent, three men have been arrested for the brutal murder of a 21-year-old college student at a farmhouse near Bengaluru. The accused, identified as Chandru, Nagesh, and Murali from Honnapura, allegedly killed the student, Punith, following an altercation.

Punith, a BCom student at a private college, had gone to the Chikkenahalli Farmhouse on October 26 with seven classmates, including two women, for a casual outing. According to police reports, the group was enjoying their time when the accused, all locals, became aware of the gathering.

At around 10:30 pm, the three men stormed the farmhouse and began recording videos of Punith’s female classmates, who were in the swimming pool. They verbally abused the students, questioning their presence and demanding to know who had permitted them to use the farmhouse.

When Punith protested against their actions, the situation escalated violently. He was viciously attacked with a wooden log, sustaining severe head injuries. Punith was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries three days later. Another student, Likith, was also assaulted but suffered only minor injuries.

The Ramanagara Rural police have registered a case of murder against the suspects, who are now in custody. Further investigations are ongoing.

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News Network
November 7,2024

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The Israeli regime has killed at least 40 people during new airstrikes against eastern Lebanese areas, besides targeting the country’s capital Beirut with fresh acts of aggression.

Lebanon’s health ministry announced the fatalities on Wednesday, saying 53 other people had also been wounded during the aerial attacks that targeted the country’s Bekaa Valley, including the city of Baalbek.

In early Thursday, the regime was also reported to have attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, including a site adjacent to Rafiq Hariri International Airport.

The attacks came after the regime issued short-notice evacuation orders apparently directed at the residents of the areas, claiming that the areas contained facilities belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

Tel Aviv has been using similar claims on countless occasions since last October, when it markedly intensified its deadly acts of aggression against Lebanon, in order to try to justify the escalation. Hezbollah has, however, invariably refuted the claims.

Also on Wednesday, the United Nations warned in its most recent flash report on the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israeli atrocities targeting Lebanon that the aggression had “reached a critical point.”

The attacks have claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, which was “58 percent more than the 1,900 fatalities” that were caused by the regime’s 2006 war against Lebanon, the report said.

“Additionally, an estimated 1.3 million people have been displaced, both within Lebanon and into neighboring countries, 33 percent more than the number of people displaced in 2006,” it added.

Women comprised the majority of those who had been rendered homeless within Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks, the report noted.

It also regretted that the Israeli attacks had featured 78 assaults on healthcare facilities across the country that had claimed the lives of 130 health workers and injured 111 others.

In response to the aggression, Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

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News Network
November 3,2024

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Bengaluru, Nov 3: In a heart-wrenching discovery, acclaimed Kannada film director Guruprasad, celebrated for his impactful films like Mata and Yeddelu Manjunatha, was found dead in a Bengaluru apartment on Sunday. 

The 52-year-old filmmaker, known for his work with deep social messages, is believed to have died two days prior in a suspected case of suicide, although authorities are still investigating to confirm the exact cause.

The decomposing body was discovered hanging from a ceiling fan in a flat in Madanayakanahalli after neighbors alerted the police due to a strong odor. Bengaluru Rural Superintendent of Police CK Baba confirmed the incident, stating that an investigation is underway. A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) joined the police at the scene to gather evidence.

Guruprasad, a respected figure in Kannada cinema, directed thought-provoking films such as Yeradanesala and Director Special and had also appeared in small roles in more than ten films. The film industry mourns the loss of a director who used cinema as a platform for social awareness.

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