Latest News
Ten pilgrims killed in bus attack in India’s Jammu
At least 10 people have died and 33 injured after suspected militants fired on a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in the Indian federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, police officials said.
The driver lost control, causing the bus to plunge into a gorge in Reasi district of Jammu, they added.
While rescue operations have concluded, a search operation by the Indian army and police is under way to track down the attackers.
Officials said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken “stock of the situation” and asked for the best medical care to be provided to the injured. “All those behind this heinous act will be punished soon,” Manoj Sinha, the region’s top administrator, wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Officials say the bus was on its way to the base camp of the famous Hindu shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi when it was fired upon.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but Mohita Sharma, the district police chief, told Reuters that suspected militants had “ambushed the bus”.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for over six decades.
Since 1947, the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the Muslim-majority territory, which both claim in full but control in part. Since 1989, Indian-administered Kashmir has also seen an armed insurgency against Delhi’s rule, claiming thousands of lives.
Delhi accuses Islamabad of harbouring militants and disrupting peace in the region, a charge Pakistan denies.
The news of Sunday’s attack broke as Me Modi took oath as India’s prime minister for the third consecutive term at a swearing-in ceremony in Delhi.
The passengers are yet to be identified but it is believed they are from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Sharma told a newspaper.
Photos showed some injured people, including a woman, being taken to a hospital in Jammu for treatment.
Amit Shah, who was home minister in Mr Modi’s previous government, expressed grief over the incident. “The culprits of this dastardly attack will not be spared and will face the wrath of the law,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of main opposition party Congress, questioned the security situation in the region. “This shameful incident is the true picture of the worrying security situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” he wrote on X.
In 2017, seven Hindu pilgrims, six of them women, were killed after their bus, returning from the famed Amarnath pilgrimage site in Anantnag district, got caught in a gun battle between police and militants.
[BBC]
An overnight explosion at the US embassy in Oslo may have been an act of terrorism, Norway’s police have said.
The embassy in the Norwegian capital sustained minor damage after the blast in the early hours of Sunday – but no-one was injured.
“One of the hypotheses is that it is an act of terrorism, but we are not completely locked into it,” Frode Larsen, the head of police joint investigation and intelligence unit, told Norway’s public broadcaster NRK.
Norwegian authorities say they are in contact with US diplomats, and an investigation into the incident is now under way. US diplomats have not commented.
Speaking to NRK later on Sunday, Larsen stressed that “we have to be open to the possibility that there may be other causes behind what has happened”.
In an earlier statement, Norway’s police said that “large resources” were sent to the area around the US embassy at about 01:00 local time on Sunday (00:00 GMT).
“The police are in dialogue with the embassy and no injuries have been reported,” the statement added.
Michael Dellemyr, who is leading the police response, told NRK that the explosion was at the public entrance to the building.
He said police officers had conducted searches in the area around the embassy in the Morgedalsvegen district of Oslo, about 7km (4 miles) outside the city centre.
He said the police had also issued an appeal for information from anyone who may have seen or heard anything about the incident.
Photos posted on social media later showed shattered glass in the snow outside the entrance to the consular section of the building, cracks in a glass door as well as dark marks on a tiled floor.
Norwegian authorities described the incident as “unacceptable”, with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stressing that “the security of diplomatic missions is very important to us”.
He added that he had contacted US embassy chargé d’affaires Eric Meyer regarding Sunday’s incident.
[BBC]
Latest News
Five in five! Brett Randell ‘blown away’ after blowing Northern Districts away in landmark spell
Central Districts fast bowler Brett Randell has created history by becoming the first bowler in the history of first-class cricket to pick up five wickets in five balls. He recorded the feat on day two of a Plunkett Shield game against Northern Districts in Napier on Sunday.
In a spell from hell, Randell ran through the Northern Districts top-order, as they slipped from 4 for no loss to 9 for 5 in the space of five Randell deliveries.
Randell started the slide with the last ball of his second over when he removed opener Henry Cooper with a peach of an in-dipper that swung in late and crashed into Cooper’s off pole, the batter having shouldered arms.
With the first ball of his next over, Randell went around the wicket to Jeet Raval, and left his stumps in a mess. Randell then claimed a hat-trick with Joe Carter caught behind, though the batter looked displeased with the decision. There was no doubt with his fourth wicket when Robert O’Donnell edged Randell’s outswinger to Curtis Heaphy in the slips.
Randell then added a fifth wicket in five balls to his tally when Kristian Clarke flirted at a delivery well outside off, got a thin inside-edge with the ball bouncing back onto his stumps and disturbing his leg bail. Randell’s bowling figures at this stage read a barely believable 2.4-1-2-5. Ben Pomare denied Randell a sixth wicket in six, but history had already been made by then.
Soon after, Randell also became the first to take six wickets in eight balls in first-class cricket
“I’m pretty blown away. The high was pretty crazy, it was like a pinch-me moment,” Randell said after his feat. “I was trying to stay level-headed and keep putting the ball in the same area and then after the actual hat-trick, just the same things — trying to put the ball in the same area.
“It gets drummed into us a lot that we don’t want to go searching for wickets, so I was trying to just keep bowling the same ball, and our ‘Plan A’ that we’d talked about, and it came off.
“I had no idea that it was the first time it [five wickets in five balls in first-class cricket] had happened in the world, it’s seriously cool. I mean, I don’t really have any words at the moment, to be honest. I’ll take it.”
Randell needed just 3.5 overs to complete his seven-wicket haul, adding the wickets of Pomare and Scott Kuggeleijn. He finished with career-best figures of 7 for 25 in 11 overs. Northern Districts were skittled for just 82 and were asked to follow-on after Central Districts had scored 373 in their first innings.
While Randell is the first bowler in first-class cricket to pick five in five, the feat has been achieved in T20 cricket before by Curtis Campher, who took five in five while playing for Munster Reds against North-West Warriors in the Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy in Dublin.
Zimbabwe Women allrounder Kelis Ndhlovu had also picked up five wickets in five balls for Zimbabwe U-19 against Eagles Women in the domestic T20 tournament in 2024.
As it turns out, Randell may not have played had the seniors been available. Central Districts’ New Zealand bowlers Ajaz Patel (calf) and Blair Tickner (ankle) were unavailable for selection because of injuries. Two other contracted players, Tyler Annand and Joey Field, were also unavailable for selection.
[Cricinfo]
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