India on Saturday night flew back the bodies of six nationals killed in a militant attack in Kabul and rushed eight injured Indians to a hospital in New Delhi.
Nine Indians died on Friday in one of the deadliest Taliban suicide attacks on foreigners in the Afghan capital. It claimed a total of 16 lives and left 20 people critically injured.
India sent a military plane to bring back those killed and injured in the assault. It was not clear why only six bodies were returned, rather than nine, or whether the other three were being brought back separately. New Delhi was also reviewing safety arrangements for its nationals in Afghanistan.
Indian President Pratibha Patil attended a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday and paid tribute to the victims of the blast.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed India’s outrage over the attacks to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who telephoned him early on Saturday to offer his condolences, a statement from the Indian leader’s office said.
Karzai pledged a “full investigation.” India has been heavily involved in reconstruction and aid efforts in Afghanistan, giving more than US$1 billion in help since the fall of the Taliban regime in November 2001.
The Indians who died in the dawn attack included two army officers, government officials and a musician who was part of a cultural delegation.
Another five Indian army officers were injured, along with a government official and two private security guards.
The bombers targeted two guesthouses frequented by foreigners. One, known locally as the “Indian guesthouse,” was occupied by Indian medical staff working at a hospital funded by New Delhi.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS