3 killed when African Union helicopter crashes in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia – A helicopter belonging to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia crashed, killing three people and injuring eight others.
The mission reported that the helicopter was carrying Somali National Army officers on a joint training mission for casualty evacuation drills when it crashed Saturday at Baledogle airstrip in Lower Shabelle region
The airstrip is also used by U.S. military forces. The AU mission said Sunday that investigations to determine the cause of the crash were ongoing.
Top Arab lawmakers in Syria for talks with President Assad
BEIRUT – Senior Arab lawmakers were in Syria on Sunday for talks with President Bashar Assad on bringing his country back into the fold of the Arab world. The visit follows a mini-summit in Baghdad that affirmed the Arab League’s intentions of having Syria return to the organization despite the country’s devastating civil war.
Lawmakers from nine Arab countries, as well as Palestinian representatives,
made up the delegation – reflecting a continuation in the thawing of relations with Assad, who for over a decade has been isolated from most of the region.
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 after Assad’s government cracked down brutally on mass protests against his rule – an uprising that quickly descended into a brutal civil war. The conflict has killed over 300,000 people and displaced half the country’s population of 23 million.
Bombing in crowded bazaar in southwestern Pakistan kills 5
QUETTA, Pakistan – A bombing at a crowded bazaar in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 16, authorities said amid a surge in violence in this South Asian nation.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Barkhan, about 360 miles northeast of Quetta, the provincial capital.
Sajjad Afzal, the local police chief, said the bomb was apparently rigged to a motorcycle and was detonated by remote control.
Apart from inflicting casualties, the bombing also left several shops at the market badly damaged. Rescuers took the wounded to hospital, Afzal said.