6 KILLED DURING MASS IN BURKINA FASO
OUAGADOUGOU: Gunmen killed a priest and five parishioners during mass Sunday in an attack on a Catholic church in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso, security sources and a local official said. “Towards 9:00 am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic church,” the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. “They started firing as the congregation tried to flee.” The attackers- between 20 and 30 according to a security source managed to trap some of the worshippers, Zongo added. “They killed five of them. The priest, who was celebrating mass, was also killed, bringing the number of dead to six.” The gunmen then set fire to the church, several shops and a small cafe before heading to the local health centre, which they looted, burning the chief nurse’s vehicle.
Saudi security forces kill 8 members of terrorist cell
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s security forces killed eight alleged terrorists in a shootout in the predominantly Shia eastern region of Qatif, a government statement said. The interior ministry said security forces launched a raid against a suspected militant hideout on the island of Tarot off the coast of the kingdom’s eastern province, a restive region where most of the country’s oil reserves are located. AP
US: Manufacturing defect caused first F-35 crash
WASHINGTON: The crash of a US marine corps F-35 that temporarily grounded the entire fleet of next-generation jets in 2018 was caused by a manufacturing defect in a fuel tube made by a United Technologies subcontractor, the US government accounting office said in a report. The defect caused an engine fuel tube to rupture during flight and the engine to lose power. BLOOMBERG
23 Rohingya rescued from traffickers in Bangladesh
DHAKA: Twenty-three teenage Rohingya girls, aged between 15 and 19, were rescued after being brought from refugee camps to the capital Dhaka to be sent to Malaysia by air, Bangladesh police said on Sunday. Dhaka police also arrested four human traffickers, including a Rohingya couple.
UK man gets life term for Indian-origin wife’s murder
LONDON: Berkshire-based Laurens Brand has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the December 2018 murder of his wife, Angela Mittal, who suffered 59 wounds to her neck and chest, the Thames Valley Police said. Brand, 47, pleaded guilty to killing Mittal, 41, at the Reading Crown Court on March 22 and was on Friday sentenced to life in jail. Mittal was born in England to Bharat and Kamla Mittal.
B’desh charges extremists over gay activist murders
DHAKA: Eight Islamist extremists from a banned group were charged by Bangladesh police on Sunday for the 2016 murders of two prominent gay rights activists. Dhaka police’s counter terrorism unit filed the chargesheet against the men, who were members of Ansar al-islam, deputy commissioner of police Mohibul Islam Khan said.
Measles scare: 28 to remain on Scientology ship
WILLEMSTAD: Authorities in the Caribbean island of Curacao announced Saturday that 17 crew members and 11 passengers must stay aboard a ship owned by the Church of Scientology that is under quarantine following a confirmed case of measles. The group is required to stay on the ship until May 13.