2 Saudis among Victims of Sri Lanka Bombings

A police officer inspects the explosion area at Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 21, 2019. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the explosion area at Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 21, 2019. (Reuters)
TT

2 Saudis among Victims of Sri Lanka Bombings

A police officer inspects the explosion area at Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 21, 2019. (Reuters)
A police officer inspects the explosion area at Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 21, 2019. (Reuters)

Two Saudi nationals were among the victims of the weekend’s terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, announced the Kingdom’s embassy in the country.

It identified the victims as Ahmed Zein al-Jaafari and Hani Majed Othman.

They were part of a ten-member Saudi Airlines staff that was in Sri Lanka following a flight to the country, it explained.

Director of the airline, Saleh al-Jasser, offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

The series of suicide attacks in Colombo on Easter Sunday targeted three churches and four luxury hotels that killed 290 people and wounded about 500.



UN Security Council Authorizes New Somalia Peacekeeping Mission

File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
TT

UN Security Council Authorizes New Somalia Peacekeeping Mission

File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

The United Nations Security Council authorized an African Union stabilisation and support mission in Somalia - known as AUSSOM - on Friday that will replace a larger AU anti-terrorism operation from Jan. 1, 2025.
Somalia's security has been underwritten by foreign resources since Ethiopia invaded in 2006, toppling the administration but galvanising an insurgency that has since killed tens of thousands of people.
The European Union and United States, the top funders of AU forces in Somalia, wanted to reduce the number of AU peacekeepers due to concerns about long-term financing and sustainability, sources told Reuters in June. Negotiations about the new force had proven complicated, they said.
The United States abstained from the UN Security Council vote on Friday over its funding concerns. The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution.