Bus explosion in India kills at least 25
HYDERABAD, India — A passenger bus burst into flames after a motorcycle crashed into it early Friday, killing at least 25 people and injuring several others in southern India, police said.
The fire tore through the bus within minutes, trapping dozens of passengers as it sped along a highway near Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh state, said senior police official Vikrant Patil.
The motorcycle rammed into the speeding bus from behind and got stuck, Patil said. It was dragged for some distance, causing sparks that engulfed the bus’ fuel tank.
Some managed to smash open windows and leap to safety with minor injuries but others died in the blaze before help could reach them, Patil said.
The bus carrying 44 passengers was traveling between the cities of Hyderabad in Telangana state and Bengaluru in Karnataka state. The accident occurred in Chinnatekuru village near Kurnool, around 130 miles south of Hyderabad.
“As the smoke started spreading, the driver stopped the bus and tried to put the fire out by using a fire extinguisher, but the fire was so intense he couldn’t control it,” Patil said.
Most passengers were asleep at the time of the accident. The bus was gutted and the unidentified bike rider also died, he said.
The Press Trust of India reported that bodies were burned beyond recognition. A few passengers jolted awake by the flames managed to break windows to escape.
Rubber boat sinks in Aegean, killing 14
ANKARA, Turkey — A rubber dinghy carrying 18 migrants sank in the Aegean Sea off Turkey’s southwestern coast Friday, leaving at least 14 dead, Turkish officials said.
Two people survived, including an Afghan national, while search-and-rescue efforts were underway for two others still missing.
A statement from the regional governor’s office said the dinghy began taking in water shortly after departing from Bodrum, a coastal town popular with tourists in Mugla province.
One survivor swam for six hours to reach the shore, while another was found on a nearby island, according to the statement. Four coast guard boats, a diving team and a helicopter have been deployed to locate the missing migrants.
It was not immediately clear whether the migrants were attempting to reach the Greek island of Kos, which lies close to Bodrum.
Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many attempt the short but perilous journey from Turkey’s coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies or small boats, often in poor conditions. Fatal accidents are a common occurrence.
Boko Haram militants slain in Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s military killed more than 50 Boko Haram militants in response to drone attacks on military bases in the country’s northeast, the army said Thursday.
Army spokesperson Sani Uba said in a statement that militants launched simultaneous attacks on military bases in Borno and Yobe states early Thursday. It added that a combination of ground and air assaults enabled the military to defeat the militants who launched their attacks from northern Cameroon and Katarko, a village in Yobe State.
The spokesperson said ground troops, backed by the Air Component, are still pursuing more than 70 wounded militants “in close coordination.”
Last month, Boko Haram militants killed at least 60 people in a nighttime attack on Darul Jamal, a village in northeastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law or Sharia.
The decade-long conflict has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors, including Niger, and resulted in the deaths of around 35,000 civilians and the displacement of more than 2 million others, according to the United Nations.
Pakistan police chief killed in bombing
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A powerful roadside bomb struck a police vehicle Friday in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border, killing a city police chief and two junior officers, officials said.
The bombing took place in the city of Hangu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as the officers were heading to a police station that had been attacked less than an hour earlier, local police chief Adam Khan said. He gave no further details.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and blamed them on the Pakistani Taliban — which is a separate group but a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul in August 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
Pakistan accuses Kabul of allowing Pakistani Taliban militants based in Afghanistan to carry out cross-border attacks. Kabul denies the charge, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
Also Friday, Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the northwestern Tank district and killed eight Pakistani Taliban militants, the military said in a statement.
