Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian in Gaza
A Palestinian in Gaza died early Sunday after being wounded in a series of retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, Gaza medical sources said.
The fatality was identified as Abdel Karim Zatuniya, an elderly man serving as a guard at the barracks in the Zeitun area, south-east of Gaza city, who was wounded in an airstrike late Saturday night in which four other people were wounded. No militant faction in Gaza announced Zatuniya a member.
Three other Saturday night airstrikes — near the Karni crossing east of Gaza city, east of Khan Younis and at an empty house in Rafah — resulted in no further casualties.
The Israeli military confirmed launching the strikes, and in a statement early Sunday said its aircraft “targeted a terror tunnel and a weapon manufacturing facility in the northern Gaza Strip, a terror tunnel in the central Gaza Strip and an additional terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip,” noting direct hits.
“These sites were targeted in response to the rocket fire on communities in southern Israel,” the statement read, noting that a Friday night rocket from Gaza that struck between two houses in the Hof Ashkelon area had lightly injured an Israeli woman.
Earlier Saturday night, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel causing no casualties or damage, an Israeli police spokesman said.
“A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at the Eshkol region. It landed in an open area without causing any damage or injuries,” Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Hamas prime minister of Gaza Ismail Haniya reiterated his movement s long-held stance it “will never recognise Israel,” as Palestinian efforts to form a temporary unity government headed by Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas continue.
Israel rejects efforts by Hamas to link up with Fatah, and views Hamas as a terrorist organisation and Iran as its sponsor and weapon supplier.
“The resistance will continue until all Palestinian land, including Al-Quds (Jerusalem), has been liberated and all the refugees have returned,” Haniya said.
Seven killed in Iraq attacks
Seven people including a tribal chief were killed on Saturday in attacks west of Baghdad and in the capital itself, police and medics said.
A roadside bomb at Amariyat al-Fallujah in Anbar province killed Sheikh Najem Mustafa al-Hafez, head of the Aweissat tribe, along with his brother, his wife and their two-year-old son, police lieutenant Jabbar Hamad said.
Hamad said Hafez was well-known for his hostility to insurgents and his loyalty to the police and army.
A doctor at Fallujah hospital 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Baghdad confirmed that the facility had received four bodies after the incident.
The hospital also received the remains of two people killed when a magnetic bomb attached to their car in the city exploded.
In the capital, an interior ministry employee named as Haidar Shamki was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car in east Baghdad, a ministry official said.
Firefighters bring Orega Centre blaze under control
The massive fire started at the office of a multi-national company’s office situated at the 4th floor of Lahore’s Orega Centre in Gulberg main Bulevard and soon engulfed the entire shopping plaza.
Rescue teams and fire brigade from different parts of city reached the site and started operation. The fire brigade brought the fire under control after a 5-hour hectic effort.
The fire destroys millions of rupees material despite the fact that traders and shopkeepers pulled out their belongings from the shops on self-help basis.
Eye-witnesses said that the fire started from the top floor and soon spread to other offices and shops in the shopping plaza.
Woman among 4 killed in Karachi violence
According to police, a 35-year-old woman was killed when some unidentified persons opened fire on a car in Korangi Industrial area. The family was returning home after attending a marriage ceremony in Landhi area. Meanwhile, police said it was result of resistance against robbery attempt.
Police have also recovered a tortured dead body of an unidentified man from Lines area.
In Nagan Chorangi, some unidentified persons shot dead two people while a man was injured in a firing incident in Qayumabad area.
Three children killed in Pannu Aqil firing incident
Three burqa-clad gunmen of Chachar clan opened fire at houses of Mehar clan in Sufi Colony on Tuesday morning that killed three children of Chachar family on the spot.
The indiscriminate firing killed three children aged between 7 and 14 years.
After the incident, police have cordoned off the area and started search for the assailants.
CJP takes suo moto notice of Domki familys killing
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo moto notice of killing of member of Balochistan Assembly Mir Bakhtiar Domki and his family.
IG Sindh Mushtaq Shah and Advocate General Sindh have been summoned by the apex court tomorrow (Monday) in this regard.
The Balochistan MPA was killed along with his wife and daughter when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car last week.
217 civilians die in Syrian ‘massacre’
Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a “massacre” in the central city of Homs, a rights group said Saturday, ahead of a UN vote on the repression.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 138 of the fatalities were caused by mortar fire in the Al-Khalidiya district of Homs, which has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Another 79 people were killed in other parts of town. Following violence elsewhere, including Damascus, during the day, Friday s overall death toll was around 250 and could still rise, the Observatory said.
“It s a real massacre,” the observatory s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, calling for the “immediate intervention” of the Arab League to end the killing.
The Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television channels showed images of dozens of bodies on the ground.
The violence broke out after thousands of people across Syria defied the government crackdown to mark the 30th anniversary of a notorious 1982 massacre in the central city of Hama that killed thousands.
News of the latest deaths came as a diplomat in New York said members of the UN Security Council would meet Saturday morning for a vote on a resolution condemning the violent repression in Syria.
The text is the same as a draft resolution sent to the council s 15 members on Thursday.
It highlights the UN body s support for an Arab League plan for a democratic transition while leaving out explicit references to calls for Assad to step down, the diplomat said Friday.
The Syrian rights group, called on the people “to take to the streets in the towns and villages and to rise up against the regime which is committing a real massacre right now in Homs.”
The Homs violence followed an already bloody day in which, the Syrian Observatory said, at least 35 other people were reported killed across Syria, among them 16 civilians.
The Britain-based group said 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and that five army deserters also lost their lives.
In addition, one person died of wounds sustained on Thursday, and the bodies of three other people were either found or returned to their families.
Gunmen attack police station in Cairo: security
Gunmen torched a police station in eastern Cairo on Friday and freed detainees, security officials told AFP, amid nationwide unrest following football-related violence that left scores dead.
The gunmen, carrying automatic weapons, stormed the police station in the Al-Marg district, freeing the detainees before setting fire to the building.
Lakki Marwat: Police mobile blown up, 3 officials killed
According to details, a police mobile came under terrosirsts attack in Shahbazkhel near Lakki Marwat. The miscreants first blew up the police mobile and then opened fire, killing three officials and wounding one.
Police mobile was on a routine patrol in the area. Those who died were identified as Jaan Muhammad (In charge), Zahid Khan (Constable) and Munawwar (Driver).
Heavy contingent of police have cordoned off the area after the incident and started search for the unidentified attackers.
At least 59 killed in Syria violence
At least 59 people, the majority of them civilians, were killed in fighting across Syria on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitoring group said at least eight civilians were killed in shelling by regime forces in the restive central city of Homs while 24 were killed in fighting in the Damascus region, among them a three-year-old child and a 25-year-old woman.
Five civilians also died in the southern province of Daraa and one was killed by sniper fire in Idlib, located in the northwest of the country.
The Observatory said the casualties also include six rebel troops killed near the capital Damascus and 15 soldiers killed in fighting with rebel forces in the Bustan al-Diwan sector of Homs.
Homs has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose fierce crackdown has left more than 5,400 people dead according to the United Nations.
