by Clément Zampa / Alex Pigman Agence France Presse Belgian soldiers shot a terror suspect after an explosion rocked the central train station in Brussels on Tuesday in the latest attack to hit Europe. Witnesses said the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) before causing the blast, with local media saying the individual had activated an explosive belt. Authorities reported no casualties, apart from the attacker who was killed in the confrontation. Crying passengers […]
Europe
Brussels station blast suspect shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’: witness
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A suspect shouted out “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) before causing an explosion at a Brussels railway station on Tuesday, a witness said. “I went down to the mezzanine level, someone was shouting. Then he cried ‘Allahu Akbar’, and he blew up a trolley,” Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a railway sorting agent, told reporters. “I was behind a wall when it exploded. I went down and alerted my colleagues to evacuate everyone. […]
Explosion rocks Brussels train station, one suspect shot: Belgian media
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — An explosion rocked the central train station in Brussels on Tuesday and a man was shot by police during the incident, prosecutors told Belgian media. The incident took place around 1900 GMT, causing the city’s Gare Centrale to be evacuated. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also evacuated. “A crowd panicked in the station and ran for the tracks after an incident,” said Arnaud Reyman, spokesperson for Infrabel, […]
French defence minister Goulard announces resignation
PARIS, France (AFP) – French Defense Minister Sylvie Goulard announced her resignation on Tuesday over a fake jobs scandal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, allied with President Emmanuel Macron’s party. Goulard, who was previously a member of the European Parliament, said she could not remain in the government while there was a possibility that she could be investigated over alleged misuse of expenses at the parliament. © Agence France-Presse
London Mayor praises community response to Finsbury Park attack
LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) – London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined Muslim worshippers on Monday evening (June 19), less than 24 hours after a man driving a van had targeted a group leaving the same centre in north London, and praised the city’s response to the attack. After attending prayers at the Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park Mosque, Khan said London would not allow any such action to divide communities. “What you’ve seen over the […]
‘Portugal weeps’ as deadly forest fire rages
by Marianne Barriaux and Thomas Cabral Agence France Presse PEDROGAO Grande , Portugal (AFP) — More than 1,000 firefighters were on Monday battling to get control of a massive forest fire that swept through central Portugal at the weekend, as the nation mourned the 64 killed in the flames. Many victims were burnt as they were trapped in their cars around the epicentre of the blaze in Pedrogao Grande, in what is the deadliest such […]
Record 65.6 million people displaced worldwide: UN
by Agnès PEDRERO Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Devastating conflicts, violence and persecution in Syria, South Sudan and elsewhere left a record 65.6 million people uprooted from their homes by the end of 2016, the UN said Monday. That number marks a jump of just 300,000 from the end of 2015, but is more than six million higher than at the end of 2014, according to a report published by the UN refugee […]
London terror attack suspect named by media
CARDIFF, United Kingdom (AFP) — A 47-year-old father of four, Darren Osborne, was named in the British press as the man arrested on suspicion of ploughing a van on Monday into a group of Muslims in London. Nine people were hospitalized after a white driver, who witnesses said shouted: “I want to kill all Muslims”, slammed into a crowd near a mosque in the Finsbury Park area of London. One elderly man, who had collapsed […]
Terror attacks and fire tragedy: Britain’s time of tumult
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Britain has endured a tumultuous period in recent months including four terror attacks, a catastrophic fire and a dramatic election that left Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government badly weakened. Here are some of the key dates so far: – March 22: Khalid Masood drives a rented car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London and stabs to death an unarmed police officer guarding the British parliament. Five people are […]
Hired van at scene of London attack at centre of investigation
LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) – Forensic officers searched for evidence on Monday morning (June 19) after a van ploughed into worshippers leaving a London mosque, injuring 10 people in what witnesses said was a deliberate attack on Muslims. The van being examined at the scene bore the logo of Pontyclun van hire, a firm the BBC said was located in an industrial estate in south Wales. Shortly after midnight, the hired vehicle swerved into a […]
London Police say ramming of worshippers by van is “being treated as a terrorist attack”
LONDON, United Kingdom (Reuters) – A van ploughed into worshippers leaving a London mosque on Monday (June 19), injuring 10 people in what witnesses said was a deliberate attack on Muslims. One man, who was already being given first aid at the scene before the vehicle was driven into pedestrians, has died but police said it was not clear whether his death was directly linked. Eight others are in hospital, with two in a very […]
London attack on Muslim worshippers: What we know
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – One man died and 10 people were injured after a van drove into a crowd of Muslim worshippers near a mosque in London in the early hours of Monday. London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it an “horrific terrorist attack” and counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, as Muslim leaders linked the incident to a rise in Islamophobic crime. Here is what we know so far: What happened? Witnesses said a […]