More than 100 killed in Nigerian tanker explosion, police say
(MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA and LONDON) — About 105 people were killed and another 50 others were injured when a tanker exploded in Nigeria, a local police spokesperson said.
The petrol tanker exploded after the driver lost control in the town of Majiya, in northwestern Nigeria, late on Tuesday, Shi’isu Adam, a spokesperson for the Jigawa regional police, told reporters on Wednesday.
Distressing videos taken by eyewitnesses at the scene appeared to show large columns of smoke and flames spreading from the overturned vehicle. Eyewitnesses described the scene as that of chaos and despair, with many struggling to rescue the injured amidst the flames.
Jigawa state Gov. Umar Namadi was briefed on the latest death toll as he visited the scene of the accident in Majiya on Wednesday morning.
A local resident, Sani Umar, who narrowly escaped the inferno, recounted, “It was terrifying. People were running in all directions, screaming for help. The fire spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.”
The patrol tanker had been heading to Nigeria’s Yobe state before it crashed at around 11:30 p.m. local time after the driver lost control of the vehicle, police said. Soon large crowds began to gather around the tanker at the scene of the accident, with some gathering leaking fuel from the truck when it exploded.
“We are worried that in spite of police warning people to stay clear from scenes of accidents involving fuel tankers, they still engage in such acts,” Adam told reporters on Wednesday. “People gathered around the accident scene; that is the reason for the mass casualties.”
At least 50 of those injured are continuing to receive medical treatment at the Ringim General Hospital for varying degrees of injuries, authorities said.
The area remained cordoned off on Wednesday as police continue investigations.
AT Abdullahi, the commissioner of police in Jigawa state, expressed on Wednesday his condolences to the families of the deceased and the entire people of Jigawa.
“This is a heartbreaking moment for us all,” Abdullahi said. “We share in the pain and sorrow of the families affected. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the bereaved
A mass burial for the victims is due to take place on Wednesday.
(LONDON) — Russian missiles and drones again crisscrossed Ukrainian skies on Monday night in a strike that killed at least three people.
Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that Russia fired three Iskander ballistic missiles from occupied Crimea, one Kh-59/69 air-launched missile from Russia’s western Kursk region and 35 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones from two areas in Kursk and Crimea.
Ukrainian air defenses downed 27 drones, the air force said, with six more “lost.”
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said that two people — a 38-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son — were killed in a strike on a hotel complex in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Two other members of the family — the father and a 13-year-old girl — were buried under rubble but later recovered. Both are in a “serious condition” and have been hospitalized, the ministry said.
Further north, in the city of Dnipro, one person was killed and at least six injured by a Russian missile attack, the Interior Ministry wrote on Telegram.
Air raid sirens also sounded in the central city of Poltava early on Tuesday.
Vladimir Rogov — the chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement, which cooperates with Moscow’s occupation of southern Ukraine — said on his Telegram channel that Russia’s strikes had targeted a military communications school in Poltava.
Ukraine’s air defense units were active overnight in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Poltava and the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the air force said.
Russia’s intensifying long-range attacks on Ukrainian military, infrastructure and civilian targets have prompted Kyiv to push its Western partners — chief among them the U.S. — for permission to use Western weapons against airfields and launch sites within Russian borders.
Ukraine has scored notable successes within Russia with its own domestically produced drones and missiles, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said Kyiv needs more advanced capabilities.
“The terrorist state must feel what war is,” the president said on Sunday. “To force Russia into peace, to move them from deceitful rhetoric about negotiations to taking steps to end the war, to clear our land of occupation and occupiers, we need effective tools.”
Following a deadly Russian guided bomb strike on the city of Kharkiv last week, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that such attacks can only be stopped “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.”
“We talk about this every day with our partners,” he said. “We persuade. We present arguments.”
Curtailing Russia’s ability to strike from the air, Zelenskyy added, would be “a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace.”
(KYIV, Ukraine.) — The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday it has confirmed 1,940 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the war with Russia began in February 2022.
This is the highest number of attacks the WHO has ever recorded in any humanitarian emergency to date, according to the agency.
During the course of the war, 86% of these attacks have targeted health care facilities, usually with heavy weapons, according to the WHO. The agency said attacks on health facilities have “intensified significantly” since December 2023 and are now occurring nearly every day.
“In 2024, we are observing a lot of double-tap attacks,” Dr. Jarno Habicht, the WHO representative in Ukraine, said in a statement. “Now we have more shelling of civilian infrastructure than before. We are losing colleagues — health-care workers, nurses, doctors, paramedics.”
“This year, many more health-care workers have also been injured than before. According to WHO data, first responders and health transportation are 3 times more likely to suffer harm from attacks compared to other health-care personnel,” the statement continued.
The WHO said so far this year, 34 health care workers and patients have been killed in health care attacks compared to 24 deaths in 2023.
Additionally, 229 people have been injured in health care attacks so far this year, which is higher than the figures reported in both 2022 and 2023. According to the WHO, every fourth attack on health care this year has resulted in injuries.
“We are witnessing a blatant disregard for the fundamental principles of humanitarian law,” Dr Emanuele Bruni, World Health Emergencies lead at the WHO Country Office in Ukraine, said in a statement. “The widespread attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have made access to electricity, water and heating an urgent priority. This war is affecting every person across Ukraine — including health-care professionals and providers — in diverse and profound ways.”
Last month, Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv — one of the most well-respected children’s hospitals in the country — was damaged when five Ukrainian cities fell under attack. At least two people were killed in the attack on the hospital, including one female physician, and at least seven children were injured, according to officials.
In November 2022, a newborn baby was killed when a missile strike hit a maternity hospital in the town of Vilniansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the local mayor told ABC News at the time.
For communities that are near the frontlines, access to health care has been severely impacted, increasing the risk of severe illness and death among residents. Since February 2022, an average of 200 ambulances have been damaged or destroyed every year in shelling attacks, according to the WHO.
The WHO noted that Ukrainian health authorities have been responding to areas that are facing health needs and challenges but there are still gaps to fill. The WHO said it has distributed approximately 3,750 tons of medical supplies, including ambulances, medicines and generators, throughout the country.
“Ultimately, the healthcare workforce of Ukraine are genuine heroes,” Habicht said. “Despite ongoing attacks, despite all the challenges, they continue saving people’s lives.”
(LONDON) — After nearly a year of bloodshed and upheaval, the return of some 70,000 displaced Israeli residents from the regions along the country’s border with Lebanon became one of the most politically pressing issues facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, even as they wage a simultaneous war against Hamas in Gaza.
As of Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed to have launched “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” in the south of the country in pursuit of this goal. Two divisions — the 98th Paratroopers Division and the 36th Division — are currently involved in the operation, supported by a variety of armored, artillery, commando and infantry brigades, as well as the Israeli air force, the IDF said.
This week’s incursions followed a months-long campaign of targeted killings — “eliminations” in Israeli military and intelligence parlance — and airstrikes that Israel said were intended to degrade Hezbollah’s command hierarchy and infrastructure.
Now, Israeli forces — according to an Israeli security official — have three goals: the removal of the threat of cross-border fire, the targeting of senior militant leaders and the return of displaced Israelis to their homes.
The IDF revealed this week that special forces troops have been operating just inside southern Lebanon for almost a year, destroying fortified Hezbollah positions, weapons caches and tunnels — some of which stretched all the way to the Israeli border.
Hezbollah rockets and drones have posed a constant threat to border regions since Oct. 8, when the Iranian-backed terror group began its cross-border attacks on Israel’s northern communities and nearby military positions.
Hezbollah began its operations the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid on Israel’s south, which left around 1,200 people dead and 250 taken to Gaza as hostages. Hezbollah said the attacks were in solidarity with Hamas and vowed to continue attacks until Israel agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza.
Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israeli military action in Lebanon has killed more than 1,900 people since Oct. 8, according to Lebanese authorities. The United Nations said around 630 Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli settlers and security forces in the West Bank over the past year, with 15 Israelis also killed.
Last month, Netanyahu officially included the return of displaced northern residents in the country’s list of wartime goals.
“I’ve already said, we will return residents of the north safely to their homes,” Netanyahu said. “And that is exactly what we will do.”
The return of these residents remains the prime public justification for Israel’s evolving military operations in Lebanon.
Israel’s grievances date back to the last cross-border war in 2006. After around a month of fierce fighting, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1701 in a bid to end the conflict.
That resolution stipulated that Israeli forces would leave Lebanon while all Hezbollah forces would withdraw north of the Litani River, some 18 miles from the Israeli border. The Lebanese military would take over control of the vacated area. Ultimately, though, Hezbollah did not withdraw.
Israel has long been pressing Hezbollah to adhere to Resolution 1701. Leaders in Beirut — where Hezbollah wields major political influence through its parliamentary arm — said they still support enforcing the resolution. But Israeli patience for a diplomatic solution appears to be exhausted.
An Israeli security official said during a Tuesday briefing that the nascent ground operation is occurring “right by the border” with no intention of pushing towards the capital Beirut.
“We’re talking about limited, localized, targeted rates based on precise intelligence in areas near the border,” the official said when asked about the limits of the operation.
Meanwhile, repeated IDF airstrikes on the capital Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continue. The IDF said it is targeting Hezbollah weapon storage sites, arms manufacturing facilities and leading militants.
Many residents of the southern suburbs have been displaced by bombing and IDF evacuation orders, some spending nights sleeping on the capital’s streets and beaches.
Several security sources told ABC News that the ground operation is expected to last no longer than a few weeks.
A key goal is the seizure of a ridge some 3 miles north of the Israeli border. From there, Hezbollah units have a line of sight into Israel to fire weapons including anti-tank missiles.
Planners also want to destroy any Hezbollah military infrastructure that could be used to infiltrate into Israel or attack northern communities.
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari claimed on Tuesday that Hezbollah was planning an Oct. 7-style “invasion” of northern communities.
Officials said that infrastructure includes tunnels, fortified positions and weapons caches close to the border, storing arms like rocket-propelled grenades, small arms, bulletproof vests, motorcycles and anti-tank missiles.
Hezbollah tunnels are not the same as Hamas tunnels, officials said. The former are built into the rocky terrain of southern Lebanon, as opposed to the soft clay sand of Gaza. This means they are shorter, not networked and mostly used for rocket batteries, weapons caches and trenches.
Some tanks and D-9 armored bulldozers are expected to be used in Lebanese villages close to the border, suggesting the IDF intends to level homes and buildings. Most of the operation will be conducted by infantry forces, the officials said.
The IDF has ordered the residents of around 50 Lebanese villages to evacuate north of the Awali River, around 37 miles from Israel’s border. The IDF also warned civilians not to use vehicles to travel south of the Litani River, which is 18 miles from the Israeli border.
Israeli leaders have not set out a timeline for the ground incursion, nor specified whether Israel intends to retain control over any Lebanese territory.
Israel sought to deter Iran from coming to the aid of its Lebanese allies.
“There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said in a statement addressed to the Iranian people on Monday.
One day later, Tehran launched a massive ballistic missile barrage towards Israel in its second direct attack since Oct. 7.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders vowed a punishing response. Iran, the prime minister said, “made a big mistake” and “will pay for it.”
Hezbollah — though ravaged by Israeli assassinations and airstrikes in recent weeks — vowed to resist. The group is still firing rockets toward residential areas in Israel, including Tel Aviv.
“The resistance fighters are ready for a direct confrontation with the enemy forces that dare or attempt to enter Lebanese territory and inflict the greatest losses on them,” the group said in a statement.
Eight IDF troops were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, marking the first known Israeli losses of the war on Lebanese territory.