Israel-Hamas conflict toll nears 3,000
Jerusalem/Gaza, Oct 13: The death toll in the raging conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is nearing 3,000, as violence continued for the seventh consecutive day on Friday. In an update, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus on Friday that at least 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldiers have been killed since the Hamas launched its brutal attack on October 7, CNN reported. Conricus added that 3,391 people have been injured in the terrorist attacks. In response to the attack, Israel is hammering Gaza with airstrikes, hitting hundreds of targets and reducing neighbourhoods to rubble. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry said the cummulative death toll from the unabated Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and West Bank has reached 1,569, while 7,212 others have been injured. In Gaza alone, the death toll stood at 1,537, including 500 children and 276 women. (IANS)
School teacher
stabbed to death in France
Paris, Oct 13: A man armed with a knife killed a teacher at the high school in northern France he once attended and critically wounded another teacher and a security guard on Friday, authorities said, an attack being investigated as potential terrorism amid soaring global tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. French anti-terror prosecutors said they were leading the investigation into the attack at the Gambetta high school in the city of Arras, some 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris. They said they were investigating charges including terror-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect, who was arrested. National police said the suspected assailant was a Russian national of Chechen origin. The French intelligence services said the suspect had been closely watched since the summer with tails and telephone surveillance and was stopped as recently as Thursday for a police check that found no wrongdoing. Sliman Hamzi, a police officer who was one of the first on the scene said the suspected attacker, a former student at the school, shouted “Allahu akbar” in Arabic. (AP)
Blast strikes mosque in Afghanistan
Kabul, Oct 13: A blast struck a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers in Afghanistan’s north, a police spokesperson said. He confirmed there were casualties but did not give a figure or other details about the incident. Taliban footage from the mosque in the city of Pol-e-Khomri, the provincial capital of Baghlan, showed debris strewn over a red-carpeted floor, scattered personal items and bodies covered with shrouds. Baghlan police spokesman Sher Ahmad Borhani said he would share information about the blast later. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but blame is likely to fall on the Islamic State group, which targeted Afghanistan’s minority Shiites in past large-scale attacks. IS, which has operated in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s Taliban rulers. Following their takeover, the Taliban launched a crackdown against the militant group. known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province. (AP)