THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The International Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo over post-electoral violence in the West African nation in a stunning blow to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Judges ordered the immediate release of the 73-year-old deposed strongman, the first head of state to stand trial at the troubled ICC, and his right-hand man Charles Ble Goude. The pair hugged each other after the […]
Tag: unrest
Sudan says 22 dead since start of protests as new demos called
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Anti-government protests that have rocked Sudan for weeks have left 22 people dead, authorities said on Thursday, as rally organizers called for fresh demonstrations. Angry crowds have staged hundreds of protests against the regime of President Omar al-Bashir after a government decision last month to triple the price of bread. The updated death toll included three demonstrators who died Wednesday as rival rallies rocked the capital Khartoum and its twin city […]
Three protesters dead in Omdurman demonstration: Sudan police
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Three protesters died after police broke up an anti-government demonstration with tear gas in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, Sudanese police said on Thursday. “An illegal gathering was held in Omdurman and police dispersed it with tear gas,” police spokesman Hashim Abdelrahim said in a statement. “Police later received reports that three protesters had died and several injured. We are now investigating,” he said without specifying how the protesters had […]
Gabon gov’t says ‘situation under control,’ rebels seized
LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AFP) — The government of Gabon declared that it was in control after an attempted coup by army rebels Monday and that it had arrested most of those involved. “Calm has returned, the situation is under control,” government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told AFP. Only hours earlier, soldiers burst into state radio and called on the people to “rise up,” an apparent bid to oust ailing President Ali Bongo, who is out of the […]
Sudan govt says 19 killed in bread price protests, as journalists strike
by Jay Deshmukh and Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali Agence France Presse KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Sudanese journalists went on strike Thursday in the wake of deadly protests against a rise in bread prices that the government says have left 19 people dead, including two members of the security forces. “Nineteen people lost their lives in the incidents including two from security forces” since the protests began on December 19, government spokesman Boshara Juma said on […]
IS-claimed attack on Libya foreign ministry kills at least three
by Imed Lamloum Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Suicide attackers stormed the Libyan foreign ministry in the capital Tripoli on Tuesday, killing at least three people including a senior civil servant in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. Twenty-one other people were wounded in the attack, authorities said. A car bomb exploded near the ministry, prompting security forces to rush to the scene, said special forces spokesman Tarak al-Dawass. A suicide bomber […]
At least 43 killed in Kabul govt compound attack
by Emal HAIDARY / Usman SHARIFI Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — An hour-long gun and suicide attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, the health ministry said Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the raid, which caps a bloody year for Afghanistan as long-suffering civilians and security forces are slaughtered in record numbers. […]
Suicide bomber kills 4 in southeast Iran: state media
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A suicide bomber killed at least four people outside a police headquarters in the port city of Chabahar in restive southeastern Iran on Thursday, its governor said. Chabahar governor Rahmdel Bameri said many people were also wounded in the morning car bombing. “The explosion was very strong and broke the glass of many buildings close by,” Bameri told state television. Many nearby shop owners and civilian passers-by, including women and children, […]
Bomb hidden in vegetables kills at least 20 in Pakistan market
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — At least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomb hidden in a carton of vegetables ripped through a crowded marketplace in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal region Friday, officials said. The attack took place during the regular Friday bazaar in Kalaya, a town in a Shiite-dominated area of Orakzai tribal district, senior local official Khalid Iqbal told AFP. “According to our initial investigation, it was an improvised explosive device hidden […]
Two policemen killed as gunmen attack Chinese consulate in Karachi
KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) — Two policemen were killed on Friday when gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said, with the attack claimed by a separatist group which branded Beijing “an oppressor”. Pakistani authorities said that security forces had secured the area after the attack, the latest in a series of assaults on Chinese nationals, including workers involved in a multi-billion dollar infrastructure project in the country. Multiple gunmen tried […]
Five Filipino troops killed in ambush by Islamist gunmen
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Militants have killed five Filipino soldiers and wounded 23 others in a major ambush by members of a notorious Islamist kidnap-for-ransom group, the Philippine military said Saturday. The soldiers were searching for hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf group when the gunmen attacked them on the southern Philippine island of Jolo on Friday, regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Besana told reporters. “The effort is part of our mission to rescue […]
Casualties feared as huge explosion rocks Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Casualties are feared after a huge explosion rocked Kabul on Monday close to where scores of Afghans had been protesting against Taliban attacks on the minority Hazara ethnic group. The blast struck in front of a high school in the downtown area of the Afghan capital, the interior ministry said. A photo shared on the popular WhatsApp messaging app showed several bodies laying on the ground. “It was a huge blast […]





