Attack
BNP denounces attack on Saki as scandalous
BNP has strongly condemned the attack on Ganosanghati Andolan Coordinator Zonayed Saki reportedly by the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and said it will remain as a scandalous incident in history.
“This is a heinous attack and it will remain as a stigma in history,” he said.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Fakhrul said such an attack on Saki during his visit to a hospital to express sympathy to the injured people in the Sitakunda depot fire can only be possible by cowards.
“This attack is extremely against civilization and human values. This incident has proved that the government wants to run the country by letting lose the terrorists,” he said.
The BNP leader also said this attack is also a strategy to divert people’s attention from all the failures of the government.
He said the ‘’demonic Nazism’’ got exposed more intensely through the violent attack on Saki.
The BNP leader said opposition parties and people of different faiths are now not getting spared from the bloody scourge of the government-backed ‘terrorists’. “What is the sign of this? Their mischievous attempt to attack the opposition forces and destroy voting, democracy and fair elections has not stopped.”
Read: ‘BCL men’ attack Junaid Saki at CMCH
He also said the government has been making one evil plan after another with all its might.
“Zonayed Saki has been bloodied through the attack that was carried out with the intention to kill him. Now is the time to resist them,” Fakhrul observed.
He urged all the democratic forces to get united to defeat the ‘illegitimate’ government by putting up barricades in the streets against ‘fascism’.
“I strongly condemn and protest the violent attack on Zonayed Saki by the armed terrorists of Awami Chhatra League and wish his a speedy recovery,” he said.
The BNP leader also demanded immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the attackers. "
On Tuesday evening, Saki and some other leaders and activists of his party were injured in an attack allegedly by some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists at Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
Man who attacked Ctg cops held
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has detained the notorious history-sheeter who was allegedly behind Sunday's brutal attack on Chattogram cops.
Kabir Ahmed was detained along with one of his associates by Rab members after a brief exchange of fire on Thursday night from the hilly area of Lohagarh upazila, Rab-7 senior assistant director (media) Md Nurul Abshar told UNB.
Also read:Severed wrist of Ctg cop successfully transplanted
"Legal processes are underway. Details will be revealed later,” he said.
Earlier, police had arrested Kabir's wife Ranu Begum from the Bandarban border area.
On Sunday morning, three people, including two police constables, were attacked by Kabir in the Adharmanik Lalarkhil area of Lohagara when the cops went to arrest him.
During the attack, 30-year-old constable Jony Khan’s wrist was severed while another constable, Shahadat Hossain, 27, and complainant Abul Kashem, 40, also suffered injuries.
Also read:2 cops injured in attack by accused in Chattogram
On Monday, doctors successfully transplanted the wrist of Jony at a private hospital in Dhaka after he was taken there by a helicopter from Chattogram on Sunday evening, said Bhakta Chanda Dutta, sub-inspector at Lohagara police station.
Parishioners subdue gunman in fatal California church attack
A man opened fire during a lunch reception at a Southern California church, killing one person and wounding five senior citizens before a pastor hit the gunman on the head with a chair and parishioners hog-tied him with electrical cords.
Jerry Chen had just stepped into the kitchen of his church’s fellowship hall around 1:30 p.m. Sunday when he heard the gunshots.
Chen, 72, a longtime congregant at Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, peeked around the corner and saw church members screaming, running and ducking under tables.
“I knew someone was shooting,” he said. “I was very, very scared. I ran out the kitchen door to call 9-1-1. ”
Officials said the shooting ended after the gunman killed one man and wounded five senior citizens before worshippers hog-tied his legs with an electrical cord until deputies arrived. Four of the five people wounded suffered critical gunshot injuries.
While a motive for the shooting at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods was not immediately disclosed, investigators don’t believe the gunman — an Asian man in his 60s whose name was not immediately released — lives in the community.
Chen, who called 911 from the church’s parking lot, said he was in such a state of shock that he was unable to tell the operator his location.
“I had to ask someone else for the address,” he said.
Chen said a group of about 40 congregants had gathered in the fellowship hall for a luncheon after a morning service to welcome their former Pastor Billy Chang, who had served the church for 20 years and was a beloved and respected community member. Chang moved back to Taiwan two years ago. This was his first time back stateside, Chen said.
“Everyone had just finished lunch,” he said. “They were taking photos with Pastor Chang. I had just finished my lunch and went into the kitchen.”
That was when he heard the gunshots and ran out.
Soon afterward, Chen said he heard the details of what happened inside from others who came out. Fellow congregants told Chen that when the gunman stopped to reload, Pastor Chang hit him on the head with a chair while others moved quickly to grab his gun. They then subdued him and tied him up, Chen said.
“It was amazing how brave (Chang) and the others were,” he said. “This is just so sad. I never, ever thought something like this would happen in my church, in my community.”
Most of the church’s members are elderly, highly educated Taiwanese immigrants, Chen said.
“We’re mostly retirees and the average age of our church is 80,” he said.
Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock praised the parishioners’ quick work to detain the gunman.
“That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery in intervening to stop the suspect. They undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities,” Hallock said. “I think it’s safe to say that had people not intervened, it could have been much worse.”
The shooting came a day after an 18-year-old man shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Laguna Woods was built as a senior living community and later became a city. More than 80% of residents in the city of 18,000 people about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles are at least 65. The incident occurred in an area with a cluster of houses of worship, including Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist churches and a Jewish synagogue.
The investigation was in its early stages, Hallock said. He said the many unanswered questions include whether the assailant attended the church service, if he was known to church members and how many shots were fired.
The majority of those inside the church at the time were believed to be of Taiwanese descent, said Carrie Braun, a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Those wounded by gunshots included four Asian men, ages 66, 75, 82 and 92, and an 86-year-old Asian woman, the sheriff’s department said. Authorities originally said only four of the five surviving victims had been shot.
Officials did not immediately disclose any information about the alleged shooter.
The afternoon lunch reception was to honor a former pastor of the Taiwanese congregation, according to a statement from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative body.
“Please keep the leadership of the Taiwanese congregation and Geneva in your prayers as they care for the those traumatized by this shooting,” the presbytery’s Tom Cramer said in a statement on Facebook.
Also read:3 shot and killed in Milwaukee following night of violence
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said on Twitter that he was closely monitoring the situation.
“No one should have to fear going to their place of worship. Our thoughts are with the victims, community, and all those impacted by this tragic event,” the tweet said.
On its website, Geneva Presbyterian Church describes its mission as “to remember, tell, and live the way of Jesus by being just, kind, and humble.”
“All are welcome here. Really, we mean that! … Geneva aspires to be an inclusive congregation worshipping, learning, connecting, giving and serving together.”
Violence in houses of worship includes the deadliest shooting inside a church, which occurred in 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas, when a gunman opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church and killed more than two dozen people.
In 2015, Dylann Roof fired dozens of bullets during the closing prayer of a 2015 Bible study session at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina. Nine members of the Black congregation were killed in the racist violence and Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. His appeal remains before the Supreme Court.
Israel's top Catholic prelate condemns police funeral attack
The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land on Monday condemned the police beating of mourners carrying the casket of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, accusing the authorities of violating human rights and disrespecting the Catholic Church.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem that Friday's incident, broadcast around the world, was a “disproportionate use of force” to the Palestinian flag-waving crowd of thousands proceeding from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem's Old City. The attack drew worldwide condemnation and added to the shock and outrage of Abu Akleh's killing as she covered a shootout in the occupied West Bank.
The police attack, Pizzaballa told reporters, “is a severe violation of international norms and regulations, including the fundamental human right of freedom of religion, which must be observed also in a public space." He spoke as the leaders and clergy of other Christian churches sat nearby.
There was no immediate Israeli response.
READ: Independent probe points to Israeli fire in journalist death
Israel and the Palestinians are locked in a war of narratives over Abu Akleh's killing. The reporter, a Palestinian-American, a Catholic and a 25-year veteran of the satellite channel, was shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp. She was wearing a blue vest clearly marked “Press.” Abu Akleh was a household name across the Arab world, known for documenting the hardship of Palestinian life under Israeli rule.
Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who were with her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially saying Palestinian gunmen might have been responsible, later backtracked and now says it's not clear who fired the deadly bullet.
After an international uproar over the funeral violence, Israeli police launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers who attacked the mourners, causing the pallbearers to nearly drop her coffin, saying the bullet must be analyzed by ballistics experts to reach firm conclusions. Palestinian officials have refused, saying they don’t trust Israel. Human rights groups says Israel has a poor record of investigating wrongdoing by its security forces.
After earlier saying they would accept an outside partner, the Palestinians said late Sunday that they would handle the investigation alone and deliver results very soon.
“We also refused to have an international investigation because we trust our capabilities as a security institution,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced. “We will not hand over any of the evidence to anyone because we know that these people are able to falsify the facts.” He stood with Abu Akleh’s brother, Anton, and Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari.
Amid the wrangling, several research and human rights groups have launched their own investigations.
Bellingcat, a Dutch-based international consortium of researchers, published an analysis of video and audio evidence gathered on social media. The material came from both Palestinian and Israeli military sources, and the analysis looked at such factors as time stamps, the locations of the videos, shadows and a forensic audio analysis of gunshots.
The group found that while gunmen and Israeli soldiers were both in the area, the evidence supported witness accounts that Israeli fire killed Abu Akleh.
“Based on what we were able to review, the IDF (Israeli soldiers) were in the closest position and had the clearest line of sight to Abu Akleh,” said Giancarlo Fiorella, the lead researcher of the analysis.
Fiorella acknowledged that the analysis cannot be 100% certain without such evidence as the bullet, weapons used by the army and GPS locations of Israeli forces. But he said the emergence of additional evidence typically bolsters preliminary conclusions and almost never overturns them.
10 dead in Buffalo supermarket attack police call hate crime
A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and livestreaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as “racially motived violent extremism.”
Police said he shot 11 Black and two white victims before surrendering to authorities in a rampage he broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch.
Later, he appeared before a judge in a paper medical gown and was arraigned on a murder charge.
“It is my sincere hope that this individual, this white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community, will spend the rest of his days behind bars. And heaven help him in the next world as well,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, speaking near the scene of the attack.
The massacre sent shockwaves through an unsettled nation gripped with racial tensions, gun violence and a spate of hate crimes. In the day prior to the shooting, Dallas police said they were investigating a series of shootings in Koreatown as hate crimes. The Buffalo attack came just one month after another mass shooting on a Brooklyn subway train wounded 10 people.
The suspected gunman in Saturday's attack on Tops Friendly Market was identified as Payton Gendron, of Conklin, New York, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Buffalo.
It wasn't immediately clear why Payton had traveled to Buffalo and that particular grocery store. A clip apparently from his Twitch feed, posted on social media, showed Gendron arriving at the supermarket in his car.
The gunman shot four people outside the store, three fatally, said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. Inside the store, a security guard who was a retired Buffalo police officer fired multiple shots, but a bullet that hit the gunman’s bulletproof vest had no effect, Gramaglia added.
The gunman then killed the guard, the commissioner said, then stalked through the store shooting other victims.
“This is the worst nightmare that any community can face, and we are hurting and we are seething right now,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at the news conference. “The depth of pain that families are feeling and that all of us are feeling right now cannot even be explained.”
Police entered the store and confronted the gunman in the vestibule.
“At that point the suspect put the gun to his own neck," Gramaglia said. Two officers talked him into dropping the gun, the commissioner said.
Twitch said in a statement that it ended Gendron's transmission “less than two minutes after the violence started.”
At the earlier news briefing, Erie County Sheriff John Garcia pointedly called the shooting a hate crime.
“This was pure evil. It was straight up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community, outside of the City of Good neighbors ... coming into our community and trying to inflict that evil upon us," Garcia said.
Witnesses Braedyn Kephart and Shane Hill, both 20, pulled into the parking lot just as the shooter was exiting. They described a white male in his late teens or early twenties sporting full camo, a black helmet and what appeared to be a rifle.
READ: 3 Israelis killed in stabbing attack near Tel Aviv
“He was standing there with the gun to his chin. We were like what the heck is going on? Why does this kid have a gun to his face?” Kephart said. He dropped to his knees. “He ripped off his helmet, dropped his gun, and was tackled by the police.”
Tops Friendly Markets released a statement saying, “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
Officials said the rifle Gendron used in the attack was purchased legally but that the magazines he used for ammunition were not allowed to be sold in New York.
The shooting came little more than a year after a March 2021 attack at a King Soopers grocery in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people. Investigators have not released any information about why they believe the man charged in that attack targeted the supermarket.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson issued a statement in which he called the Buffalo shooting “absolutely devastating.”
“Our hearts are with the community and all who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy. Hate and racism have no place in America. We are shattered, extremely angered and praying for the victims’ families and loved ones,” he added.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called on the White House to convene a meeting with Black, Jewish and Asian leaders “to underscore the Federal government (is) escalating its efforts against hate crimes.”
At the White House, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden was receiving regular updates on the shooting and the investigation and had offered prayers with the first lady for the victims and their loved ones.
“The president has been briefed by his Homeland Security advisor on the horrific shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., this afternoon. He will continue to receive updates throughout the evening and tomorrow as further information develops," she said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting, Justice Department spokesperson Anthony Coley said.
More than two hours after the shooting, Erica Pugh-Mathews was waiting outside the store, behind police tape.
“We would like to know the status of my aunt, my mother's sister. She was in there with her fiancé, they separated and went to different aisles," she said. "A bullet barely missed him. He was able to hide in a freezer but he was not able to get to my aunt and does not know where she is. We just would like word either way if she’s OK.”
20 injured in Magura clash
At least 20 people have been injured in a clash between two groups over mango plucking in Joka village of Magura's Sreepur upazila, police said on Friday.
Of the injured, 17 have been admitted to Magura Sadar and Dariapur Hospital.
Also read:2 shot in clash between BCL, LDP in Cumilla; LDP Secretary General held
What started as a mere altercation between Sezan,14, son of Shahid Molla, and Akher Sheikh, 35, over the teen plucking a mango from a tree on public land soon turned into a violent clash between two groups.
Injured Sezan and his uncle Hashem Molla told UNB that Akher and his associates vandalised their houses and attacked 10 of their family members with sharp weapons.
Of the injured, Shaheb Molla, 37, Chanchal Molla, 30, Mofiz Molla, 29, Arif Molla, 33, Shahid Molla, 25, Shohag, 45, Ariful Molla, 25, and Mala Begum have been admitted to Magura Sadar Hospital.
Akher Sheikh, on the other hand, alleged that the other group members attacked them and ten of his men sustained injuries in the clash.
Also read: Man killed in clash over delivering sermon after Jumma: 3 arrested
Pritam Sarkar, officer-in-charge of Sreepur police station, said "We have not yet received any complaint in this regard. Will take action after a complaint is lodged."
Chhatra League attack on LDP leader Redwan ‘premeditated’: BNP
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday described the attack on Liberal Democratic Party leader Dr Redwan Ahmed by the ‘ruling party cadres’ in Chandina upazila of Cumilla as premeditated.
In a statement, he also alleged that there was instigation from the highest level of the government behind the attack.
“This heinous attack has proved once again that the country is now under a fascist and authoritarian rule. I strongly condemn and protest this cowardly attack,” the BNP leader said.
He demanded the government immediately arrest the perpetrators and mete out exemplary punishment to them.
Fakhrul voiced concern as Redwan, secretary general of one of the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s key partners in the LDP, was arrested when he took shelter at a local police station in self-defence following an attack on his vehicle as it arrived at a meeting.
The BNP secretary general said although the government made various statements seeking the participation of all parties in the next parliamentary election, the attacks on opposition parties’ meetings and rallies targeting their leaders by the ruling party ‘cadres’ have exposed its self-contradiction. "It has become clear through the attack that this regime is dependent on terrorism.”
Fakhrul alleged that the ruling party ‘cadres’ have turned the entire country into a bloodied state by destroying democracy and taking the law into their own hands.
“The government has become more reckless and desperate to protect its own existence. Such an attack has indicated how awful Awami fascism will be in the days to come,” the BNP leader observed.
READ: BNP won’t even join talks on polls until AL quits power: Fakhrul
Earlier in the day, two people were shot by Redwan during a clash between activists of the ruling party student front Bangladesh Chhatra League and the LDP at Redwan Ahmed College premises in Chandina upazila of Cumilla.
After the clash, Dr Redwan, a former MP, was held on accusation of firing shots from his gun.
Police and witnesses said the leaders and activists of the LDP and BCL arrived at the college campus on Monday noon to hold their separate meetings.
Amid the tension, some BCL activists allegedly chased the personal vehicle of Dr Redwan Ahmed when he reached the spot. In order to fend them off, he fired at them from his gun through the window of his vehicle.
Israel captures Palestinians who killed 3 in stabbing attack
Israeli police said Sunday that forces captured two Palestinian attackers who killed three people in a stabbing attack last week.
Israel launched a massive manhunt for the assailants, who after carrying out the stabbing rampage, fled the scene. Residents were asked to be on alert and not to pick up hitchhikers.
The stabbing on Thursday, Israel’s Independence Day, was the latest in a series of deadly assaults deep inside the country in recent weeks. It came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions were already heightened by violence at a major holy site in Jerusalem sacred to Jews and Muslims.
Police did not immediately offer details of where and how the assailants were captured.
Police identified the attackers as 19- and 20-year-old men from the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, which has re-emerged as a militant bastion in the latest wave of violence — the worst Israel has seen in years. Several of the attackers in the recent violence have come from Jenin.
READ: Palestinians facing eviction by Israel vow to stay on land
At least 18 Israelis have been killed in five attacks since March, including another stabbing rampage in southern Israel, two shootings in the Tel Aviv area, and a shooting last weekend in a West Bank settlement.
Nearly 30 Palestinians have died in violence — most of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in confrontations with Israeli forces in the West Bank. But an unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed and rights groups say Israel often uses excessive force.
Three held for attack on Rajshahi University student
Police have arrested three people in connection with the attack on a Rajshahi University student at a hostel in the Amzader More area of the city on Wednesday night.
The arrestees have been identified as Nazmul, owner of NR Chhatrabash, and his two staff -- Loban and Shariful, said Anwar Hossain Tuhin, officer-in-charge of Motihar police station.
The three were arrested during a drive on Thursday after a case was filed at the police station following a complaint from the victim Saffat Naeem Nafi’s friend Sharif, said the OC.
Also read: RU student stabbed, students stage demo demanding arrest of attackers
Saffat, a student of the physics department of the 2019-20 session, is currently being treated at Dhaka's National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) after being stabbed by miscreants.
Ibrahim Hossain, a student of the same department and also a witness to the crime, said they went to NR hostel that night to resolve a problem among RU student Sharif and some admission seekers staying at the hostel.
"At one stage, some people came to the hostel gate and suddenly attacked us. We managed to escape but Saffat was stabbed,” he added.
The students of the physics department staged a sit-in protesting the attack in front of the university vice-chancellor’s residence on Thursday morning.
They dispersed only after an assurance from the vice-chancellor.
Also read: Gazipur college girl allegedly stabbed for saying no to marriage proposal
RU proctor Professor Ashabul Haque said that he heard that some junior students in the mess had locked into an altercation with Sharif for not offering namaz.
"Some people, including Nafi, went to resolve the issue. A meeting was also held at the hostel that night and the mess owner was also present there," he added.
Dagger attack on running bus : DU student injured
A student of Dhaka University has been badly injured after a mugger attacked him with a dagger on a running bus on Wednesday afternoon.
Injured Mahbub Hossain is a 4th year student of IER and also resident of Bijoy Ekattor Hall. He was taken to Dhaka medical college hospital for treatment as his condition worsened with bleeding.
READ: DU student accuses a BCL activist of slapping him
"While the snatcher tried to grab a mobile phone from a female student of Hemonto university bus, Mahbub and some other passengers caught him. The snatcher then stabbed Mahbub and injured him", Jobair Ahmed, who brought snatchers to the police station, wrote in a Facebook group.
READ: Another DU student chooses the dark path of suicide
"The culprit and one of his assistants have been taken to Dhanmondi police station but no case has been filed yet", Officer in charge of Dhanmondi police station, Akram Ali Miah said.