CM announces Rs 5 lakh ex gratia for victims after families perish in Uttara Kannada landslide

A 27-year-old non-resident Indian and his Sudanese colleague died of dehydration and exhaustion in Saudi Arabia's Rub' al Khali desert.

Mohammad Shehzad Khan, a resident of Karimnagar, had been working in Saudi Arabia for three years with a telecommunications company.

The incident took place when Shehzad accompanied by his Sudanese colleague lost his way in the desert after his GPS lost signal. Shehzad's phone battery also died, leaving the two unable to call for help.

Soon, their vehicle also ran out of fuel, and the two men ran out of food and water in the searing heat. Being stranded in the dangerous Empty Quarter part of the desert is almost a guarantee of death.

The Rub' al Khali, which stresses over 650 kilometres, is well-known for its harsh conditions and spans across Saudi Arabia's southern regions and into neighbouring countries.

Even though the two fought to survive, the temperatures were extreme and dehydration and exhaustion took over. Their bodies were discovered on Thursday, four days after they ventured into the desert, lying next to their vehicle in the sand dunes.

The car they had been driving had stalled, which had led them to wander in the dessert. Their bodies were found on a prayer mat, according to the Free Press Journal.

Sources in Shehzad's family told online news platform Siasat Daily, they would prefer to maintain their total privacy at this grief-stricken hour.

Information on Shehzad's colleague, who was a Sudanese national, has not been found.

The Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance groups have condemned an attack by illegal Israeli settlers on the village of Jit in the northern West Bank, where they killed a Palestinian and set fire to homes and cars belonging to other residents.

In a statement on Friday, Hamas called for a popular uprising against the gangs of settlers.

“We mourn the heroic martyr Rashid Mahmoud Sada, who was killed by settler militias in the village of Jit. We affirm that this pure blood will not go in vain and will be a curse upon the occupying regime,” the statement read.

Earlier, Abdel Rahman Shadid, a Hamas leader, had stated that “The Nazi occupation's aggression through its armed illegal settlers on the village of Jit east of Qalqilya this evening, along with the burning and abuse, is part of a series of crimes by the occupation in the West Bank.”

Shadid called on Palestinians in the West Bank “to further rise up against the occupation and its settlers and to confront their brutal attacks by all possible means.”

For its part, the Islamic Jihad resistance movement also condemned the attack by illegal Israeli settlers on the village of Jit, terming it a declaration of war on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“The occupation army's siege of the village during the attack is reminiscent of the massacres carried out by the Stern, Irgun, and Haganah gangs, among others, in 1948, with the aim of displacing our people from their land.

“The participation of the occupation army in securing protection for these crimes proves that what is being implemented is an official plan under the sponsorship of war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu,” the Gaza-based group said in a statement.

The Islamic Jihad movement also urged all Palestinian residents of the West Bank to confront settler gangs and their crimes in defense of the occupied territories and the Palestinian nation.

Additionally, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement decried the attack by illegal Israeli settlers on the Palestinian village of Jit as an extension of the genocidal war led by the fascist Zionist entity against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

“This brutal aggression, supported by the criminals [Israel's so-called national security minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, where settlers besieged the village, burned properties, and shot at unarmed citizens, represents a dangerous escalation in the Zionist aggression against our people. It must be met with a qualitative escalation in resistance and confrontation,” it said in a statement.

“We call upon the masses of our people in the cities and villages of the West Bank for a wide-scale uprising and comprehensive intifada to forcefully confront the crimes of Zionists, and thwart their criminal plans aimed at eradication of the Palestinian presence and displacement of our people,” it added.

On Thursday evening, more than 100 illegal Israeli settlers attacked Jit, killed a Palestinian citizen and seriously injured another.

They set fire to four homes and six vehicles owned by Palestinians during the incursion.

Since Israel unleashed a war on the besieged Gaza Strip in early October 2023, casualties have been rising in the West Bank as a result of intensified near-daily Israeli raids into villages and cities in the occupied territories.

At least 623 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

At least 40,005 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have also been killed in the Israeli genocidal war against the Gaza Strip during the past 10 months.

Udupi, Aug 27: Police on Tuesday arrested a BJP worker in connection with the abduction and rape case in Karkala, which Sangh Parivar had tried to portray as a ‘love jihad’ case.

In fact the BJP had run a campaign over the abduction and rape case and slammed the Karnataka government alleging a ‘love jihad’ angle.

The arrested BJP worker identified as Abhay is the third accused to be arrested in the case.

Police stated that Abhay had also helped the main accused Altaf to escape after the incident.

The Karkala town police have also slapped the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) against him as investigation has revealed that Abhay had provided drugs to Altaf.

The accused had posted BJP MLA and Karnataka General Secretary, V Sunil Kumar's photo in his social media account and also identified with Hindu organisations, police said.

A probe has revealed that Abhay was close to Altaf.

The development has triggered a debate on social media.

Abhay had also taken part in the campaign against drugs organised by the Bajrang Dal and he was also a part of the team which submitted a memorandum to the Deputy SP of Karkala.

More details are yet to emerge regarding the incident.

The police department is yet to give an official statement regarding the development.

An incident of an Instagram friend kidnapping and raping a 21-year-old woman had come to light on last Saturday from Karkala town of Udupi district.

The police had arrested two persons in this connection and the victim was admitted to hospital.

The case had taken a twist with Hindutva organisations alleging ‘love jihad’ and claiming that the victim was gang-raped.

The police had warned of strict action against those spreading rumours.

The arrested persons were identified as Altaf and Xavier Richard Quadros.

Udupi SP, Dr Arun Kumar had stated, "We received a complaint on Friday evening regarding the kidnap and rape of a young woman. The victim and accused were friends on Instagram for three months. The accused and the victim belong to the same place."

The accused Altaf, who was the woman’s Instagram friend, had called the victim and asked her to come to a particular spot near her work place on Friday noon.

When the victim reached a particular spot, she was kidnapped from there, he stated.

The victim claims that she was forced to consume a drink laced with some sedative substances and the accused then raped her, SP Arun Kumar had stated.

After committing the crime, the accused had dropped the victim home, he had said.