Representational image of a fisherman raising a Philippine flag on his boat in the South China Sea
| Photo Credit: AP

A Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday, China’s coast guard said.

The coast guard said a Philippine supply ship entered waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands that’s part of territory claimed by several nations.

ALSO READ | China says U.S. plays ‘dishonourable role’ supporting Philippines in South China Sea

The Chinese coast guard said in a statement on the social media platform WeChat the Philippine supply ship “ignored China’s repeated solemn warnings… and dangerously approached a Chinese vessel in normal navigation in an unprofessional manner, resulting in a collision”.

“The Philippines is entirely responsible for this,” it added.

The Philippines says the shoal, which lies less than 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its coast, falls within its internationally recognised exclusive economic zone and often cites a 2016 international arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea based on historical grounds.

Several incidents have happened in recent months near the shoal, where the Philippines maintains a post aboard the BRP Sierra Madre ship.

ALSO READ |South China Sea: Asia’s disputed waters

The territorial disputes have strained relations and sparked fears the conflict could bring China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, into a military confrontation.

Washington lays no territorial claims to the busy seaway, a key global trade route, but has warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack in the South China Sea.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-seething territorial disputes, which are regarded as a flashpoint in Asia and a delicate fault line in the longstanding U.S.-China rivalry in the region.

A woman in China died by suicide after her family forced her into an engagement with a blind date.  According to the South China Morning Post, the 19-year-old named Tongtong was pressured into getting engaged to a man she had only met five days before. 

Notably, the teen ran a small clothes shop with her mother in their hometown. Her mother thought the groom’s better-off financial situation would ”make her life easier”. Though Tongtong felt reluctant when the man proposed, her mother and a matchmaker persuaded her to accept.

At the engagement ceremony, the man’s family gave Tongtong’s mother 270,000 yuan (Rs 33,40,730) bride’s price. However, she did not like the man as he was rude and demanding. She even tried to break off the engagement but the matchmaker convinced her not to do so citing her mother’s financial constraints. 

However, 17 days after the engagement, she took a drastic decision and threw herself into the river near her home. After her death, her fiancé demanded her mother return the bride price.

The girl’s greedy mother gave him 180,000 yuan but refused to return the full amount because the man lied about his age. 

But the man’s family remained adamant and demanded the money. They blocked her shopfront with a car and played messages in a loop over a loudspeaker, demanding the bride’s price. 

Meanwhile, the teen’s mother, matchmaker and the man all blamed each other for Tongtong’s death.

The tragic story has sparked outrage on social media in China and ignited a debate about marriage and women’s rights. One user wrote on Weibo, ”This is such a horror story. The girl is a daughter, a wife-to-be, a good financial resource, but never herself.”

Forced marriages are common in China, especially in underdeveloped areas. In urban areas, unmarried women aged over 30 are usually stigmatised as ”leftover women” and face pressure from parents to get married. 

A Police Department vehicle blocks a road after a fatal shooting on June 16, 2024, in Round Rock, Texas, U.S.A. Multiple people were shot at the park during a Juneteenth celebration.
| Photo Credit: AP

A weekend shooting in a Texas park in the U.S. left two people dead and six wounded, including two children, authorities said.

The victims were shot shortly before 11 pm Saturday during a Juneteenth celebration at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) north of Austin.

An altercation began between two groups during a concert at the event and someone started shooting, Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks said during a news conference at the scene.

The two victims who were pronounced dead at the scene were not involved in the argument, Mr. Banks said. The shooting occurred near a vendor area away from the stage set up for the concert, he added.

Police officers and fire department personnel present at the event immediately began providing emergency medical care to the wounded, who were then taken to hospitals, said Mr. Banks.

Six people — four adults and two children — were taken to local trauma facilities, all with potentially serious injuries, according to a post on X by Austin-Travis County EMS.

Police said Sunday they did not have a suspect in custody and investigators did not know how many shooters were involved.

“It breaks your heart for a family that was coming out to enjoy their evening and now their life is forever changed as a result of somebody who could care less about somebody else’s life,” Mr. Allen said.

A view shows the plenary session of the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Stansstad, Switzerland, June 16, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Nirmala Sitharaman to hold pre-budget meeting with industry chambers on June 20

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to hold pre-budget consultations with industry chambers on June 20, sources said. The Union Budget for FY2024-25 is likely to be presented in Parliament in the second half of July. Industry sources said the pre-budget consultation with Ms. Sitharaman would be preceded by a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on June 18.

NTA officials to face action if found involved in NEET irregularities, says Dharmendra Pradhan 

The Central government would take the strictest of actions against functionaries of the National Testing Agency if they were found to be involved in irregularities in the conduct of the NEET, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education Minister, said. “Additional wrongdoings have also come to the fore on two accounts. I assure both students and parents that the government had taken the issue very seriously. We will take it to a logical end,” he said.

India refuses to endorse Ukraine meet statement

Only proposals acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine can lead to peace, said India as New Delhi decided to disassociate itself from the final document issued at the conclusion of a Peace Summit in Switzerland. India was among at least seven countries that refused to endorse the “Joint Communique on a Peace Framework” released in Burgenstock, the venue of the two-day summit.

NDA allies to meet before Lok Sabha session to take a call on its Speaker candidate

he announcement of the date for the election of a new Speaker for the Lok Sabha has set off speculation over who could occupy that role come June 26, with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners likely to meet around June 22 or June 23 to decide the alliance’s candidate. While the Janata Dal-United (JD (U)) has stated that a BJP claim on the post would be respected by them, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is speaking of a consensus “NDA candidate”.

Security officials determined to prevent escalation of ethnic violence in Manipur’s Jiribam district

Jiribam will not be allowed to go the same way as the rest of Manipur, officials in the security establishment asserted as an uneasy calm prevailed in the western district after the violence over the last two weeks. Outsiders from both the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities — who have been engaged in an ethnic conflict in the State for more than a year — are entering Jiribam district in large numbers, which can potentially lead to a flare-up in the violence, according to officials on the ground. 

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar inaugurates Prerna Sthal

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar inaugurated the ‘Prerna Sthal’ on the Parliament House premises, where 15 statues of freedom fighters and icons of Indian history, including statues of Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar, previously established in different parts of the Parliament campus, have been relocated to a single location, amid protests by the Opposition.

Siddaramaiah defends hike in fuel prices; urges Centre to reduce excise duty on petroleum products

A day after the State government hiked petrol and diesel prices by about ₹3 each, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defended the hike and blamed the Centre for forcing the State to cut sales tax during the earlier years, while it continued to increase the Central excise duty on petroleum products. In a note, he said that while under the “double engine BJP government” Karnataka was forced to reduce the tax, the Union government continued to collect higher Central excise duty from the State, and diverted the resources to other States.

Ukraine Peace Conference: 80 countries agree that respect for territorial integrity will help achieve ‘lasting peace in Ukraine’

Eighty countries have jointly called for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine to be the basis for any peace agreement to end Russia-Ukraine war, though some key developing nations at a Swiss conference did not join in. The joint communique capped a two-day conference at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland marked by the absence of Russia, which was not invited, but that many attendees hoped could join in on a roadmap to peace.

India to host its first multinational air exercise Tarang Shakti in August

The Indian Air Force’s first multinational air exercise, Tarang Shakti-2024, will be held in August, and is likely to see the participation of ten countries, in addition to a few others acting as observers. The exercise is now scheduled to be held in two phases. The first will be held in southern India in the first two weeks of August and the second will be in the western sector from the end of August to mid-September, officials said.

Feasibility study on proposal to establish land connectivity with India in final stages, says Sri Lankan President

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the feasibility study on a proposal to establish land connectivity with India is in its final stages. This proposal and the prospect of a power grid connection between the two nations are likely to be discussed during the visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Lanka this week.

Health Ministry issues inter-departmental referral guidelines for hospitals

Citing significant inconsistencies and lack of accountability in the referral process, the Union Health Ministry has for the first time issued inter-departmental referral guidelines for hospitals to facilitate better communication and cooperation. The ‘Guidelines for Inter-Departmental Referral (within hospitals)’ stress that referrals should be initiated promptly as and when patients require specialised care, diagnostic evaluations or consultations beyond scope of admitting department

Israeli military announces ‘tactical pause’ in attempt to increase flow of aid into hard-hit Gaza

The Israeli military announced a “tactical pause” in its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip to allow the deliveries of increased quantities of humanitarian aid. The army said the pause would begin in the Rafah area at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. eastern) and remain in effect until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon eastern). It said the pauses would take place every day until further notice.

Lilongwe:

A vehicle in the convoy of Malawi’s late vice president’s funeral procession rammed into mourners at a village on Sunday night, killing four people and injuring 12, police said.

It was part of a motorcade transporting the body of Saulos Chilima, who died in a plane crash earlier this week.

The vehicle plunged into a crowd in Ntcheu a village in central Malawi.

The car, along with other military, police, and civilian vehicles, was headed to Nsipe, Chilima’s home village, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of the capital Lilongwe, ahead of his burial on Monday — which has been declared a public holiday.

“Due to the impact the two female and two male pedestrians sustained severe head injuries and multiple fractures and died whilst receiving treatment” said a police statement. 

Police spokesman Peter Kalaya told AFP 12 more people had been injured.

Thousands of people had lined up in the streets to catch a glimpse of the vice president’s coffin.

An eyewitness told AFP that the vehicle plunged into the group as it attempted to manuever away from the volatile crowd.

Felix Njawala, spokesman for Chilima’s party, said there was some tension along the route as mourners demanded the procession stop so they could see the coffin.

“In Dedza, people blocked the road and demanded to see the coffin” he told AFP, “only when the convoy stopped were people pacified and the convoy was able to proceed” adding that in some instances people threw stones at the convoy. 

While he acknowledged that party supporters had questions, he called on them to maintain peace.

The party itself on Thursday demanded an investigation into the plane crash.

Chilima died on Monday with eight others when a military aircraft on an internal flight crashed into Malawi’s Chikangawa Forest in dense fog. 

The wreckage of the plane was found on Tuesday.

His party, the United Transformation Movement (UTM), allied with President Lazarus Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the 2020 presidential election, fielding a joint ticket.

During a public viewing of the body at a stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday afternoon, Chakwera called for an independent enquiry into the accident.

“People want to know how the plane carrying the Vice President and the others went missing and crashed. I too want to know what happened,” he said.

The plane, a Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K, disappeared after it failed to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad weather and was told to return to the capital.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Masses of pilgrims on June 16 embarked on a symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia under the soaring summer heat. The ritual marks the final days of the Haj, or Islamic pilgrimage, and the start of the Id al-Adha celebrations for Muslims around the world.

The stoning is among the final rites of the Haj, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It came a day after more than 1.8 million pilgrims congregated at a sacred hill, known as Mount Ararat, outside the holy city of Mecca, which Muslim pilgrims visit to perform the annual five-day rituals of Haj

Fourteen Jordanian pilgrims have died from sunstroke during the Haj, according to Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it has coordinated with Saudi authorities to bury the dead in Saudi Arabia, or transfer them to Jordan.

Mohammed Al-Abdulaali, spokesman for the Saudi Health Ministry, told reporters that more than 2,760 pilgrims suffered from sunstroke and heat stress on Sunday alone. He said the number was likely to increase and urged attendees to avoid the sun at peak times and drink water. “Heat stress is the greatest challenge,” he said.

The pilgrims left Mount Arafat on Saturday evening to spend their night in a nearby site known as Muzdalifa, where they collected pebbles to use in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil.

The pillars are in another sacred place in Mecca, called Mina, where Muslims believe Ibrahim’s faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In the Christian and Jewish versions of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.

On Sunday morning, crowds headed on foot to the stoning areas. Some were seen pushing disabled pilgrims on wheelchairs on a multi-lane road leading to the complex housing the large pillars. Most pilgrims were seen sweltering and carrying umbrellas to protect them against the burning summer sun.

An Associated Press reporter saw many pilgrims, especially among the elderly, collapsing on the road to the pillars because of the burning heat. Security forces and medics were deployed to help, carrying those who fainted on gurneys out of the heat to ambulances or field hospitals. As the temperature spiked by midday, more people required medical help. The heat had reached to 47 C (116.6 F) in Mecca, and 46 C (114.8 F) in Mina, according to Saudi meteorological authorities.

Despite the suffocating heat, many pilgrims expressed joy at being able to complete their pilgrimage.

“Thank God, (the process) was joyful and good,” said Abdel-Moaty Abu Ghoneima, an Egyptian pilgrim. “No one wants more than this.”

Many pilgrims will spend up to three days in Mina, each casting seven pebbles at three pillars in a ritual to symbolize the casting away of evil and sin.

While in Mina, they will visit Mecca to perform their “tawaf,” or circumambulation, which is circling the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque counterclockwise seven times. Then another circumambulation, the Farewell Tawaf, will mark the end of Haj as pilgrims prepare to leave the holy city.

The rites coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, which means “Feast of Sacrifice,” when Muslims with financial means commemorate Ibrahim’s test of faith through slaughtering livestock and animals and distributing the meat to the poor.

Most countries marked Id al-Adha on Sunday. Others, like Indonesia, will celebrate it Monday.

President Joe Biden in a statement wished Muslims around the world a blessed Id al-Adha and noted the holiday is a time of prayer, reflection and sacrifice.

“The Haj and Id al-Adha remind us of our equality before God and the importance of community and charity — values that speak directly to the American character,” it said. “The United States is blessed to be home to millions of American Muslims who enrich our nation in countless ways, from medicine to technology, education, public service, the arts, and beyond.”

Once the Haj is over, men are expected to shave their heads and remove the shroud-like white garments worn during the pilgrimage, and women to snip a lock of hair in a sign of renewal and rebirth.

Most of the pilgrims then leave Mecca for the city of Medina, about 340 kilometers (210 miles) away, to pray in Prophet Muhammad’s tomb, the Sacred Chamber. The tomb is part of the prophet’s mosque, one of the three holiest sites in Islam, along with the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

All Muslims are required to make the Haj once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so. Many wealthy Muslims make the pilgrimage more than once. The rituals largely commemorate the accounts of Prophet Ibrahim and his son Prophet Ismail, Ismail’s mother Hajar and Prophet Muhammad, according to the Quran, Islam’s holy book.

More than 1.83 million Muslims performed Haj in 2024, Saudi Haj and Umrah Minister Tawfiq bin Fawzan al-Rabiah said in a briefing, slightly less than last year’s figures when 1.84 million made the rituals.

Most of the Haj rituals are held outdoors with little if any shade. It is set for the second week of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month in the Islamic lunar calendar, so its time of the year varies. And this year the pilgrimage fell in the burning summer of Saudi Arabia.

This year’s Haj came against the backdrop of the devastating Israel-Hamas war, which has pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional conflict.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip weren’t able to travel to Mecca for Haj this year because of the closure of the Rafah crossing in May when Israel extended its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt. And they will not be able to celebrate the Id al-Adha as they used to do in previous years.

Dozens of Palestinians gathered Sunday morning near a destroyed mosque in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis to perform the Id prayers. They were surrounded by debris and rubble of collapsed houses. In the nearby town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Muslims held their prayers in a school-turned shelter. Some, including women and children, went to cemeteries to visit the graves of loved ones.

“Today, after the ninth month, more than 37,000 martyrs, more than 87,000 wounded, and hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed,” Abdulhalim Abu Samra, a displaced Palestinian, told the AP after wrapping up the prayers in Khan Younis. “Our people live in difficult circumstances.”

Also in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians convened for the Id prayers in Ramallah, the seat of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. “We suffer greatly and live through difficult moments with (what’s happening to) our brothers in Gaza,” said Mahmoud Mohana, a mosque imam.

In Yemen’s Houthi-held capital of Sanaa and in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, Muslims celebrated and prayed for the war-weary Palestinians in Gaza.

“We are happy because of Id but our hearts are filled with anguish when we see our brothers in Palestine,” said Bashar al-Mashhadani, imam of al-Gilani Mosque in Baghdad. “(We) urge the Arabic and Islamic countries to support and stand beside them in this ordeal.”

In Lebanon, where the militant Hezbollah group has traded near-daily attacks with Israel, a steady stream of visitors made their way into the Palestine Martyrs Cemetery near the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut early Sunday morning, bearing flowers and jugs of water for the graves of their loved ones, an annual tradition on the first day of Id.

Washington:

Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who is accused of being involved in murder-for-hire plot against a Khalistan terrorist, has been extradited from Czech Republic, media reports said Sunday.

Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czech Republic last year at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Khalistan terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. He is expected to be produced before a federal court in New York on Monday.

Gupta is currently lodged at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where he is listed as an inmate. The Washington Post was the first news outlet to report his extradition.

“Gupta, who had been detained in the Czech Republic, arrived in New York over the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive legal proceedings. Typically, extradited defendants must appear in court within a day of their arrival in the country,” the daily said.

Federal prosecutors allege that Gupta hired a hitman to kill Pannun and paid $15,000 in advance. They allege that an unnamed Indian government official was involved in it.

Gupta’s extradition comes ahead of the New Delhi visit of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for the annual ICET dialogue. The issue is expected to be raised by Sullivan before his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

India has denied its involvement in such a case and has instituted an investigation into the allegations.

Gupta through his attorney has denied the charges and has said that he has been “unfairly charged”.

“Gupta’s attorney, Rohini Musa, wrote in a petition to the Indian Supreme Court that her client is being unfairly prosecuted, saying there is “nothing on record to link the Petitioner to the massive alleged plot to assassinate the alleged victim,” The Washington Post said.

“Musa complained that Gupta received adverse legal advice from a Czech government-appointed attorney “under the undue influence of … U.S. Agencies” during the initial phase of his detention. She said India and the United States were “going back and forth to blame each other for their foreign policy,” the daily reported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

President Lai Ching-te warned cadets of Taiwan’s military academy on Sunday that their biggest challenge was “the strong rise of China”, which he said regards the “elimination” of the self-ruled island as a national cause.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and Chinese leaders have escalated their rhetoric in recent years to suggest “unification” is an “inevitability”.

Beijing has also stepped up military pressures, most recently launching war games that encircled the island with warplanes and naval vessels days after Mr. Lai was sworn into office last month.

Speaking Sunday at the centennial anniversary of the founding of Taiwan’s Whampoa military academy, Mr. Lai said teachers and cadets must recognise “the challenges and missions of the new era”.

“The greatest challenge is to face the strong rise of China, which has been destroying the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

“(It) aims for the annexation and the elimination of the Republic of China for its cause of great national revival,” Mr. Lai said, referring to Taiwan by its official name.

“The highest mission is to bravely take up the heavy responsibility and grand task of protecting Taiwan, and safeguarding the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

The academy was founded in 1924 in Guangzhou, southern China. It moved to Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan, after the defeated Nationalists fled to the island in 1949.

Mr. Lai is regarded as a “dangerous separatist” by China, which said before the launch of war games in May that his inaugural speech was akin to a “confession of Taiwan independence”.

Mr. Lai had vowed in his speech to defend Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, while also calling for dialogue with China – which has been severed since 2016.

Like his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, Mr. Lai maintains that Taiwan does not need to have a formal declaration of independence – a redline for China – as it is “already independent”.

Stockholm:

The role of atomic weapons has become more prominent and nuclear states are modernising arsenals as geopolitical relations deteriorate, researchers said Monday, urging world leaders to “step back and reflect”.

Diplomatic efforts to control nuclear arms also suffered major setbacks amid strained international relations over the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its annual yearbook.

“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, said in a statement.

The research institute noted that in February 2023 Russia announced it was suspending participation in the 2010 New START treaty — “the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty limiting Russian and US strategic nuclear forces”.

SIPRI also noted that Russia carried out tactical nuclear weapon drills close to the Ukrainian border in May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has upped his nuclear rhetoric since the Ukraine conflict began, warning in his address to the nation in February there was a “real” risk of nuclear war.

In addition, an informal agreement between the United States and Iran reached in June 2023 was upended after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, SIPRI said.

– ‘Extremely concerning’ –

According to SIPRI, the world’s nine nuclear-armed states also “continued to modernise their nuclear arsenals and several deployed new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023”.

The nine countries are the United States, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

In January, of the estimated 12,121 nuclear warheads around the world about 9,585 were in stockpiles for potential use, according to SIPRI.

Around 2,100 were kept in a state of “high operational alert” on ballistic missiles.

Nearly all of these warheads belong to Russia and the United States — which together possess almost 90 percent of all nuclear weapons — but China was for the first time believed to have some warheads on high operational alert.

“While the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” SIPRI director Dan Smith said.

He added that this trend would likely continue and “probably accelerate” in the coming years, describing it as “extremely concerning.”

Researchers also stressed the “continuing deterioration of global security over the past year”, as the impact from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza could be seen in “almost every aspect” of issues relating to armaments and international security.

“We are now in one of the most dangerous periods in human history,” Smith said, urging the world’s great powers to “step back and reflect. Preferably together.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Russian policemen and Rosguardia servicemen gather not far from a pretrial detention center in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Sunday, June 16, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Russian special forces freed two prison guards and shot dead six inmates linked to the Islamic State militant group who had taken them hostage at a detention centre in the southern city of Rostov on Sunday, Russian media said.

State media said that some of the men had been convicted of terrorism offences and were accused of affiliation with the Islamic State militant group, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.

The six hostage takers, one of whom wore a headband with the flag used by the Islamic State that bears an Arabic inscription, knocked out window bars and climbed down several floors by rope before taking the guards hostage with a knife and fire axe.

In video published by the 112 Telegram channel, one was shown brandishing a knife beside one of the bound guards in Rostov-on-Don. In negotiations with the authorities, they demanded free passage out of the prison.

But Russian special forces decided to storm the prison. Intense automatic gunfire could be heard in footage published on Russian Telegram channels. Video published by the 112 Telegram channel showed the six dead men in pools of blood.

“The criminals were eliminated,” Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement, which said a “special operation” had taken place to free the hostages.

“The employees who were being held hostage were released. They are uninjured,” the prison service said.

Ambulances were seen entering the complex.

Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim militant group, was defeated in Iraq and Syria by a combination of U.S.-led forces, Kurdish fighters, and Russian, Iranian, Syrian soldiers. It splintered into different regional groups that have claimed a number of deadly attacks across the world.

Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term for the region that included parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow in which 145 people died.

According to Russian media, the hostage takers were from Russia’s southern republic of Ingushetia and three of them had been detained in 2022 for planning an attack on a court in another Russian republic, Karachay-Cherkessia.