ABUJA, July 16 – At least 27 people were killed in an attack by suspected gunmen in Plateau State in central Nigeria, which has recently witnessed increased attacks, a senior official said Wednesday.

Caleb Mutfwang, governor of Plateau, told the media during an on-the-spot assessment of the havoc in the Bindi community of Riyom local government area that aside from the casualties, the gunmen also destroyed houses, crops on farmlands, and other valuable properties during the attack early Tuesday.

The gunmen rode motorbikes into the community, firing indiscriminately at residents while also setting homes and farmlands ablaze.

“I am calling on the security agencies to redouble their efforts. We need to reappraise our strategy and tactics,” the governor said, calling for a concerted effort to halt the bloodshed and wanton destruction of property.

The motive behind the latest attack remains unclear.

Plateau State, located in Nigeria’s central region between the Muslim-dominated north and the Christian-majority south, has witnessed repeated attacks in recent years.

Armed attacks have been a primary security threat in Nigeria’s northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnaps in recent months.

XINHUA

NEW YORK, July 16 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 jolted 87 km south of Sand Point, Alaska, the United States, at 20:37:40 GMT on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 36 km, was initially determined to be at 54.55 degrees north latitude and 160.34 degrees west longitude.

XINHUA

ISLAMABAD, July 16 – At least three people were killed and 11 others injured when unknown militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a passenger bus in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday, local rescue and police officials told Xinhua.

The incident happened in Kalat district when the bus was traveling from the country’s southern port city of Karachi to Balochistan’s capital city Quetta, said Muhammad Zeeshan, manager of operations of the rescue department at non-governmental organization Edhi Foundation in Quetta.

Talking to Xinhua, police sources from the district said that the attack happened at around 5:20 p.m. (12:20 GMT) local time when attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the bus, killing the three passengers on the spot and injuring 11 others.

Rescue teams shifted the injured to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kalat, where several remain in critical condition, Zeeshan said.

Following the incident, security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the attackers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Balochistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent months, with frequent incidents targeting civilians, security forces, and public transport on major highways.

XINHUA, 16.7.2025

Southern Syria witnessed an escalation overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, with Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites around Sweida and Daraa. This coincided with unprecedented internal tensions between the transitional government in Damascus and the authorities in Jabal al-Arab.

Local sources reported to Al Mayadeen that Israeli occupation aircraft launched a series of raids targeting supply lines for military factions affiliated with the Syrian transitional Ministry of Defense, outside the city of Sweida and in the vicinity of Daraa province.

The sources stated that the Thaala military airport was among the direct targets, and the raids resulted in deaths and injuries among the forces stationed there.

Sources also reported that two airstrikes targeted the 52nd Brigade east of Daraa, hitting positions and gatherings of armed factions affiliated with the Syrian Transitional Ministry of Defense.

AL MAYADEEN

DAMASCUS, July 16 – Clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed.

The outbreak of violence in the predominantly Druze province in southern Syria has highlighted frictions among Syria’s diverse communities, with minorities feeling deep distrust towards the Islamist-led government now in power.

Syrian troops were dispatched to the province on Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias. The fighting drew in Israel, which carried out air strikes on government forces on Monday and Tuesday under the aim of protecting the Druze.

A ceasefire announced by Syria’s defence ministry on Tuesday night was short-lived.

Local news outlet Sweida24 said the city of Sweida and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire early on Wednesday.

Syria’s defence ministry, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, blamed outlaw groups in Sweida for breaching the truce.

The defence ministry called on residents of the city to stay indoors.

Dozens of civilians, government troops and Druze fighters have been killed since the fighting erupted on Sunday.

Civilians and Reuters reporters in the city said that government forces had looted and burned homes, stealing cars and furniture from homes on Tuesday. One man showed a Reuters reporter the body of his brother, who had been shot in the head inside their home.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday warned the Syrian government to “leave Druze alone” and that the military would continue to strike Syrian government forces until they pulled back.

U.S. Syria envoy Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that the United States was in contact with all sides “to navigate towards calm and integration”.

REUTERS

ISTANBUL – At least 10 Palestinians were killed and others injured, including children, due to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian News Agency Wafa.

Four Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a displaced people’s tent in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip.

One more civilian was killed and others were injured in another Israeli strike targeting the al-Safa building in the camp.

Two Palestinians lost their lives and others were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

In Khan Younis of the southern enclave, an Israeli airstrike on displaced people’s tents killed two people and injured others near Attar gas station in the al-Mawasi area west of the city.

A 6-year-old child was also killed and others were injured due to Israeli shelling of displacement tents near Tiberias gas station in al-Mawasi.

ANADOLU

GENEVA, July 15 – The U.N. rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the U.N. of misinformation, which it denies.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

“The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

REUTERS

ISTANBUL – At least 58,479 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

A ministry statement said that 93 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 278 people were injured, taking the number of injuries to 139,355 in the Israeli onslaught.

“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

The ministry noted that six Palestinians were killed and over 29 injured while trying to get humanitarian aid in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking aid to 844, with over 5,604 others wounded since May 27.

ANADOLU, 15.7.2025