24 KILLED IN KABUL CAR BOMBING

KABUL: At least 24 people have been killed and 42 wounded after a Taliban car bomb struck a bus carrying government employees in western Kabul Monday, officials said, the latest attack to strike the Afghan capital. “The car bomb hit a bus carrying employees of the ministry of mines during rush hour,” interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast that hit a busy neighborhood of the Afghan capital just before 7am (0230 GMT). The bombing comes as the resurgent militant group has stepped up attacks across the country in recent days, with several new districts falling to the Taliban over the weekend. The blast hit an area of the capital that is home to many Shiite Hazaras, a persecuted ethnic minority who have been targeted many times in the past. It is also near the home of prominent politician and former warlord Mohammad Mohaqeq. Omid Maisom Mohaqiq, a spokesman for the politician, said the bomb had detonated near the first checkpoint approaching the house, “killing and wounding some civilians.”

CHINA DEFENDS REPATRIATION OF NORTH KOREANS

BEIJING: China on Monday defended its repatriation of North Koreans who have escaped across its border after a United Nations envoy voiced concern about increasing detentions and expulsions. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said last week he had shared his concerns with Chinese officials in recent months. But foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that “the persons who illegally trespassed into China are not refugees” and would be handled according to “international law and humanitarian need.” “We hope relevant people can abide by principles in the UN charter to respect normal law enforcement on the Chinese side,” Lu told a regular press briefing. Ojea Quintana said on Friday he was “alarmed by a surge in detentions and forced repatriations of North Koreans” who are caught in China after making it across the border. The envoy said he had reminded Chinese authorities of their obligations under the 1951 refugee convention as well as relevant parts of the UN system. If forcibly returned, North Korean defectors are at risk of persecution, arbitrary detention, torture or other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and execution, according to Human Rights Watch.

FLOODWATERS SWALLOW MYANMAR PAGODA

YANGON: Rising floodwaters have swallowed a Buddhist pagoda in central Myanmar and sent tens of thousands fleeing their homes, as the government warned of more heavy rains ahead. Dramatic footage circulating on social media showed the riverside pagoda sinking into the flood waters in Magway region, with shocked bystanders looking on as its golden spire collapsed beneath the waves. Monk Pyinnya Linkara, who filmed the footage, said the pagoda was destroyed on Thursday last week. “This pagoda was built in 2009, when it was far away from the river,” he said. “Year by year, the river has eroded the land and now the pagoda has fallen into the river.”

ISRAEL STRIKES GAZA AFTER MISSILE ACROSS BORDER

JERUSALEM: Israel struck a position of Islamist group Hamas in Gaza on Monday, the army said, hours after a missile was fired across the border from the Palestinian enclave. “An (Israeli) tank targeted a post belonging to the Hamas terror organization in the southern Gaza Strip” in the early hours of the morning, the army said in a statement. A Hamas security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that five strikes hit an observation post of the group’s military wing near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. The source said separate strikes hit farming land in central Gaza, with no injuries reported in either incident.

IRAN SAYS AMBASSADOR TO REMAIN IN KUWAIT DESPITE SPAT

TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it was disappointed at Kuwait’s decision to reduce the number of Iranian diplomats in the country, but said its ambassador would remain. Kuwait announced last week that 15 Iranian diplomats would have to leave within six weeks in response to the conviction of a “terror” cell with alleged links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. “We did not expect this from Kuwait,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said, according to the IRNA news agency. “We have always maintained positive relations with Kuwait in the Persian Gulf region. The action by the country was not nice... but we can still continue conversations and contacts,” he added. The Israeli strike came hours after a “projectile fired from the Gaza Strip” hit an open area inside Israel without causing any injuries, the army said.