5 shot at adult education facility in Sweden, police say
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(LONDON) — At least five people were shot on Tuesday at an adult education facility in Orebro, Sweden, police said.
“The extent of the injuries is unclear,” police said. “The operation is still ongoing.”
Police said the shooter may be among the injured being treated at the hospital, but said “nothing is clear yet.” Five people have been taken to the hospital. Officials cannot confirm if anyone has died, and no ages of the victims have been given yet.
Officials said in a statement they were urging the public to stay away from the Risbergska Skolan, a municipal education center in the Vasthaga area of Orebro. The school is for students over 20 years old, according to its website.
Law enforcement in the Bergslagen region began at about 1 p.m. local time to post a series of short statements, saying initially that a “major operation” was underway and the school was under threat of “deadly violence.”
Police set up an information point for relatives to gather, and students were sent to nearby facilities.
“The danger is not over,” Police said at about 2 p.m. “The public MUST continue to stay away from Västhaga.”
The school is about 200 km, or about 125 miles, west of Stockholm, the capital.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The South Korean State Council passed a resolution to officially lift martial law, according to the South Korean Prime Minister’s office.
Shortly before the vote, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said troops have been withdrawn, hours after he declared an “emergency martial law.”
Yoon had declared martial law in a televised speech late Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.
The move sparked protests, and hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted early Wednesday morning local time demanding that the president lift the martial law order. A majority of parliament — all 190 members who were present, out of the 300-person body — voted to lift the decree — requiring that it then be lifted, under the South Korean constitution.
Following the National Assembly’s vote, Yoon said he withdrew the troops that had been deployed to carry out martial law and “will lift martial law as soon as we have a quorum in the cabinet.” The State Council then convened to vote to officially lift it.
The country’s Democratic Party called on Yoon to resign following what it called the “fundamentally invalid” declaration of martial law. The opposition party said it will begin impeachment proceedings if the president doesn’t resign.
“This is a serious act of rebellion and perfect grounds for impeachment,” a Democratic Party spokesperson said in a statement after martial law was lifted.
Explaining his decision to declare martial law on Tuesday, Yoon accused the opposition-dominated parliament of “paralyzing” judicial affairs and the administration via 22 proposed cases of impeachment issued since the body convened in June.
After withdrawing the troops, he continued to call out the National Assembly, urging parliament to “immediately stop the outrageous behavior that is paralyzing the functioning of the country with impeachments, legislative manipulation and budget manipulation.”
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party has been locked in a fierce budget dispute with the liberal opposition Democratic Party.
“The handling of the national budget also cut all major budgets to have control over the essential functions of the state, the budget that was formed to crack down on drug crimes and maintain public security,” Yoon said Tuesday. “This undermines the essential functions of the state and leaves the public in a drug paradise and public security panic.”
“The National Assembly, which should be the basis of liberal democracy, has become a monster that collapses the liberal democracy system,” he added.
Following the declaration of martial law, the Democratic Party called on its lawmakers to assemble at the National Assembly building in Seoul, Yonhap reported. Party leader Lee Jae-myung said Yoon’s martial law declaration was an “unconstitutional” measure that “goes against the people.”
“President Yoon declared emergency martial law for no reason,” Lee said, as quoted by Yonhap.
Police and soldiers gathered around the National Assembly on Tuesday night after Yoon spoke. Footage from the scene also showed crowds descending on the building, some people making their way inside. Yonhap reported clashes between security personnel and National Assembly staffers as the former tried to enter the building.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon — a member of Yoon’s People Power Party — was among those who called for an immediate reversal of the declaration. “As mayor, I will do my best to protect the daily lives of citizens,” he added in a post to Facebook.
President Joe Biden’s administration was not alerted of the declaration beforehand, according to the White House National Security Council.
“We are relieved President Yoon has reversed course on his concerning declaration of martial law and respected the ROK National Assembly’s vote to end it,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. “Democracy is at the foundation of the U.S.-ROK alliance, and we will continue to monitor the situation.”
Biden told reporters he was “just getting briefed” on the martial law declaration, following a speech in Angola on Tuesday evening local time.
His administration is in contact with the South Korean government, the White House National Security Council said.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul warned Americans in the country that “the situation remains fluid” in the wake of martial law being lifted.
“U.S. citizens should anticipate potential disruptions,” the Embassy said in a security alert. “When in public, you should pay attention to your surroundings and exercise routine safety precautions.”
Tuesday’s martial law declaration marked the first since the country’s democratization in 1987. Martial law was last declared in 1979 after the assassination of dictator Park Chung Hee.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story was updated to reflect that Yoon had withdrawn troops but martial law had not yet been lifted.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Joe Simonetti, Fritz Farrow and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
US soldiers board an US Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021. – Rockets were fired at Kabul’s airport on August 30 where US troops were racing to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuate allies under the threat of Islamic State group attacks. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi / AFP/ Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Ryan Corbett, an American held in Afghanistan since 2022, has been released from Taliban custody in a prisoner swap, according to his family.
The Taliban’s foreign ministry confirmed the swap in their own statement, saying Corbett and another American national were exchanged for Khan Mohammad.
Mohammad was sentenced to life in prison in 2008, two years after his arrest near Jalalabad, Nangahar Province, Afghanistan, according to a 2008 release from the Department of Justice. He had been extradited to the U.S. and convicted on narco-terror charges, the release said.
“A violent jihadist and narcotics trafficker, Khan Mohammed sought to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan using rockets,” Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Matthew Friedrich said in a statement at the time. “Today’s life sentences match the gravity of the crimes for which he was convicted.”
The Corbett family gave credit for the prisoner exchange to both the Trump and Biden administrations. Corbett’s wife had a call with former President Joe Biden recently and also met with members of the incoming Trump administration.
“The countless hours of negotiations, unwavering support, and determination demonstrated by all involved have not gone unnoticed, and we will forever hold this kindness in our hearts,” the Corbett family said in a statement.
At least two other American nationals are still detained in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials say the Biden administration had explored freeing at least one prisoner held in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility as part of an exchange with the Taliban but ultimately decided it would be too complicated.
(BEIT LAHIA, Gaza) – Health officials in Gaza say there is only one hospital remaining that is providing humanitarian aid services in the northern part of the strip amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In early October, Israel Defense Forces reportedly ordered evacuations of several regions in the north of Gaza, doctors at the hospitals told ABC News, including Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, as they work to surround Hamas fighters who are allegedly in the area.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, said in a recorded message shared over the weekend on an X account by the director general of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health that his hospital is “currently the only hospital still providing humanitarian services in northern Gaza.”
Between 50,000 and 75,000 residents are estimated to remain in northern Gaza, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In additional comments Sunday, sent via a WhatsApp group the Gaza Ministry of Heath uses to share updates with the media, Safiya said there are currently 400 civilians inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit who are in incubators and in need of oxygen. He further said that despite orders from the IDF to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital, there is no way to safely evacuate patients from the hospital.
“We have repeatedly requested assistance and have openly invited [Israeli forces] to see for themselves the internal workings of our hospitals so that we may continue to serve our population without fear of attack and death. These calls were rejected,” Safiya said in Sunday’s comments. “We also call on the world to witness, that if Kamal Adwan Hospital is decommissioned, there will be no way of preserving conditions of life to the remaining 75,000+ civilians in north Gaza.”
ABC News has not been able to confirm if and when Israeli forces were invited to enter Kamal Adwan Hospital, as Safiya claims, nor when the invitation was allegedly rejected.
Safiya also said that Kamal Adwan Hospital has been the target of IDF attacks as recently as Sunday.
“Direct attacks on the hospitals began with no warnings and no civilian protection permitted by the occupation, in the way of normal procedures expected in a combat zone,” he said in the Sunday message to reporters. “[International Committee of the Red Cross] and other U.N. bodies were consistently denied access to intervene. As a result, significant harm and loss to civilian life and means of preserving life resulted in these attacks on hospitals.”
“Regarding Kamal Adwan Hospital, IDF forces are operating in its vicinity but not within its premises,” the IDF said Monday in response to an ABC News request for comment, adding that the IDF “is unaware of any evacuation order of the hospital.” The IDF response did not address whether they attacked the hospital.
Israel has claimed that Hamas uses hospitals, and networks of tunnels beneath them, as bases to conduct and promote terrorist activity, and U.S. officials have backed this claim. Hamas, however, has repeatedly denied it.
Israeli forces have also insisted that they have tried to limit civilian casualties as much as possible over the course of the war.
The latest update from the Gaza Ministry of Health comes as UNICEF says children in the most northern part of Gaza have been largely unable to receive humanitarian assistance for more than 10 weeks due to the ongoing siege.
More than 96% of women and children in Gaza are currently surviving on a diet of rationed flour, lentils, pasta and canned food, which does not meet their nutritional needs, according to UNICEF.
“Gaza must be one of the most heartbreaking places on earth for humanitarians. Every small effort to save a child’s life is undone by fierce devastation,” UNICEF Communication Specialist Rosalia Bollen said during a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Friday.
“For over 14 months, children have been at the sharp edge of this nightmare, with more than 14,500 children reportedly killed, thousands more injured,” she continued. “As we approach the end of the year, a time when the world strives to celebrate family, peace and togetherness, in Gaza the reality for over a million children is fear, utter deprivation and unimaginable suffering.”
Since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 1,700 Israelis have been killed and more than 8,700 have been injured, according to Israeli officials. In Gaza, more than 45,300 people have been killed, and more than 107,700 people have been injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
