bomb – praag.org

Thai police identify Bangkok bomb attackers on CCTV

An explosion close to Erawan shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killed at least 21 people including seven foreigners.

The tally of foreign tourists killed by the blast now stands at seven, Thai police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri has told AFP.

According to his office, two Chinese citizens from the mainland, two people from Hong Kong, two Malaysians and a Singaporean have been confirmed among a death toll of 21 at this stage.

Five Thais have been confirmed killed, while the other nine victims have not yet been identified. Investigators have been having trouble establishing the exact number of dead as victims were torn apart so horrendously that they are still trying to match body parts.

The wounded come from Thailand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Singapore.

The revised list of nationalities reflects the popularity of the shrine with visitors from across East Asia and particularly Chinese communities.

The head of Thailand’s junta now says a suspect has been identified from CCTV footage. The blast is believed to have been the work of an anti-government group based in Thailand’s north-east, where the anti-coup Red Shirt movement is based, according to AFP.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast on Monday evening, which left scores wounded, and officials in Thailand have yet to blame any group.

Thailand’s three southernmost provinces are home to a long-running Muslim separatist insurgency. Since 2004, more than 6,500 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in violence in the region.

The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted the elected government after months of anti-government protests.

Source: The Telegraph

Blast kills dozens in Nigeria

A bomb blast hit a busy meat market in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing as many as 50 people, an eyewitness and a hospital source told Reuters.

The bomb which was concealed under a butcher’s table in the market went off at around 1pm local time, killing shoppers and travellers, a military source said.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the latest explosion, which follows two bomb attacks over the weekend that killed at least 30 people and bore the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

The group, which new President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to crush, has killed thousands of people and displaced around 1.5 million in its bid to establish an Islamic caliphate in the northeast of Africa’s biggest economy and top oil exporter.

Lawal Kawu, a paramedic, said 31 charred bodies had been evacuated to the teaching hospital in Maiduguri, and several other people were brought in with severe injuries.

Witnesses said they heard a loud explosion.

Source: Reuters

One dead, 21 injured in US consulate attack in Afghanistan

US consulate building in Herat, a former hotel

Taliban militants attacked a US consulate in western Afghanistan Friday, killing an Afghan guard and injuring 21 people including 16 civilians, police said.

“Two attackers detonated their explosives-laden truck at the first entrance of the US consulate at 5:30 am (0100 GMT) in Herat city, injuring four guards of a private security company and two policemen,” said Rahmatullah Safi, police chief of Herat province.

“Following the explosion, three others who were in another vehicle opened fire on the guards,” Safi told dpa.

“One of the injured guards died due to bleeding,” he said.

The three remaining assailants were killed when the police returned fire, he said.

At least 16 civilians were injured by flying glass, according to police.

“The people were sleeping in their houses around the consulate compound and were injured when the strong explosion broke their windows,” said Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for Herat province police.

US Ambassador to Kabul James B Cunningham condemned the attack.

“We are grateful for the quick response of the Afghan and ISAF security forces, who secured the facility and kept our personnel safe,” Cunningham was quoted by a statement, referring to the International Security Assistance Force or ISAF.

He also said that “many Afghan civilians were killed in the attack,” while police said that only one guard was killed.

“The ISAF helicopters were flying over the area to help security forces if needed,” Ahmadi said.

Another police officer said consulate staff were evacuated by helicopter, but Safi denied this, saying the diplomats were safe inside the compound.

Earlier news reports said three security personnel were killed.

The US State Department confirmed the attack, but not the casualties.

“There are no American casualties,” the department’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “At this point there may be one wounded contract security member, and there are likely wounded Afghan police, though numbers are unknown.”

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

“A group of martyrdom-seeking mujahideen attacked the US consulate this morning, in which a large number of US troops and local security personnel were killed and parts of the consulate buildings were damaged,” the group’s spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmad said. -dpa

Bomb sweep at Pistorius court

Oscar Pistoirus during a previous court hearing

The police’s explosives teams carried out a precautionary sweep to check for explosives inside the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court room where paralympian Oscar Pistorius would appear on Monday.

Reporters were asked to temporarily leave the court where earlier, video cameras were being set up.

Security had assisted media with more chairs.

Pistorius’s brother Carl Pistorius was seen carrying the access tags that would allow his family inside.

It would have been Pistorius’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp’s 30th birthday on Monday.

Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder after the model and law graduate was shot dead in his Pretoria home on February 14.

The State was expected to serve the double amputee with an indictment, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Friday.

“We also expect to have the trial starting early 2014, but we cannot at this stage confirm the exact date because this has to be agreed upon in court by all parties concerned,” spokesman Medupe Simasiku said at the time.

During a subsequent bail hearing, Pistorius’s defence read out a statement in which Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.

He has been out on R1 million bail since February 22, with some of the conditions amended since then.

On June 4, prosecutor Andrea Johnson said in court that no details of the investigation would be revealed. She said the State needed more time to investigate the crime.

This was by agreement with Pistorius’s defence.

Johnson said the attention generated by Steenkamp’s death was not something the prosecution or the State could control, and felt his rights should not be overridden and that he had the right to be treated like any other person.

Last Tuesday, police confirmed that the investigation into Steenkamp’s death had been completed and that the matter would be postponed.

National police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said the investigating team was convinced that Pistorius had a charge to answer to.

The court session was expected to start at 9am. – Sapa

Bomb found at site planned for Pope visit

A homemade bomb was discovered hidden near a Brazilian shrine Pope Francis is scheduled to visit later this week, the military said Monday. The device was found in a parking garage bathroom inside the National Sanctuary of Aparecida in São Paulo state.

The Brazilian Air Force found the bomb, which they said was comparable to dynamite with a fuse, during a routine security sweep prior to the pope’s arrival. It was detonated without incident.

“It was a homemade device with little potential to cause fatalities,” the military said in a statement. “It is worth pointing out that such episodes formed part of our security forces’ training in Aparecida and at no point were civilians’ lives in danger.”

Police added that the bathroom is not located in an area likely to be used during Pope Francis’ visit.

Thousands of people lined the streets in Rio de Janeiro Monday, where Pope Francis arrived on the day to begin celebrations for World Youth Day. He will be in the mostly Catholic country from July 23-28.- RT

Egypt militants bomb gas line to Jordan

Militants in Egypt’s Sinai bombed a gas pipeline to Jordan on Sunday, witnesses said, amid a surge in attacks on police and soldiers after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster.

Witnesses told AFP the blast took place near the the north Sinai town of El-Arish.

After an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, militants in Sinai repeatedly bombed the pipeline, which also supplied Israel.

But such attacks had not been reported for almost a year. – AFP