عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Moscow: Car Bomb Sparked Fire on Key Crimean Bridge

The Crimean bridge and the fire sparked by the car bomb. Photo: Twitter
The Crimean bridge and the fire sparked by the car bomb. Photo: Twitter
TT
TT

Moscow: Car Bomb Sparked Fire on Key Crimean Bridge

The Crimean bridge and the fire sparked by the car bomb. Photo: Twitter
The Crimean bridge and the fire sparked by the car bomb. Photo: Twitter

A fire sparked by a car bomb has broken out on a key road and rail bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, which annexed the territory from Ukraine in 2014, Moscow authorities said Saturday.

"Today at 6:07 am (0307 GMT) on the road traffic side of the Crimean bridge ... a car bomb exploded, setting fire to seven oil tankers being carried by rail to Crimea," Russian news agencies cited the national anti-terrorism committee as saying.

The bridge, which was built on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin and inaugurated in 2018, was a key transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, especially in the south, as well as ferrying troops there.

Russia had maintained the bridge was safe despite the fighting in Ukraine but had threatened Kyiv with reprisals if it was attacked.

In September, Russia announced the annexation of the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia after staging referendums that Kyiv and the West say were phony exercises held at gunpoint.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor posted a message on Twitter after Saturday's explosion and fire on the Crimean bridge, calling it "the beginning" but not directly claiming Ukrainian responsibility.

"Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

FBI Arrests Energy Department Employee on Charge of Trying to Support Houthis

A vehicle belonging to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in front of its headquarters in Washington on February 3, 2025 (Reuters)
A vehicle belonging to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in front of its headquarters in Washington on February 3, 2025 (Reuters)
TT
TT

FBI Arrests Energy Department Employee on Charge of Trying to Support Houthis

A vehicle belonging to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in front of its headquarters in Washington on February 3, 2025 (Reuters)
A vehicle belonging to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in front of its headquarters in Washington on February 3, 2025 (Reuters)

A Department of Energy electrical engineer has been arrested on charges of providing support to the Iranian-backed Houthi militias, including by buying materials for homemade explosives and drones and traveling to Yemen, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and is due to make his first court appearance Friday. Court records do not list an attorney available to speak on his behalf, The Associated Press reported.

The FBI says Ellaboudy had a goal of helping the Houthis improve their communications capabilities and traveled last September to Yemen.

Upon his return to the United States, authorities say, Ellaboudy told Customs and Border Protection officials that he was traveling back from Oman on a work trip and was part of a US government mission to inspect missile defense systems. But investigators interviewed Ellaboudy's supervisor, who reported having no knowledge of any international travel or of an Energy Department missile inspection program that Ellaboudy would have been assigned to, an FBI affidavit said.

The FBI says investigators began looking into Ellaboudy after learning that he had purchased precursor chemicals commonly involved in the construction of homemade explosive devices, including acetone and sodium bisulfate, as well as parts used for drones.

During the course of the investigation, the FBI says, he communicated with multiple informants — including one who purported to be a Houthi colonel — and provided advice and assistance on communications equipment.

Ellaboudy is charged under a law that makes it a crime to provide material support to a group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, of which the Houthis are one.

“These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination,” John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's National Security Division, said in a statement.

World

Congo's Ebola Outbreak Records More than 4,000 Deaths as Authorities Struggle to Contain the Virus

A healthcare worker is disinfected by his colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
A healthcare worker is disinfected by his colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
TT
TT

Congo's Ebola Outbreak Records More than 4,000 Deaths as Authorities Struggle to Contain the Virus

A healthcare worker is disinfected by his colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
A healthcare worker is disinfected by his colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)

Congo's Ebola outbreak has now recorded more than 4,000 deaths, authorities said as they struggle to contain the spread of the virus.

The latest figures were released by the health ministry on Thursday. They show that 4,018 people have died from among 8,300 confirmed cases, making up for nearly half of the confirmed cases in what has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, The Associated Press said.

The World Health Organization has recently raised the alarm regarding the rapid geographical spread of the virus into new health zones, stretching limited resources.

Widespread mistrust of health workers and authorities' handling of the outbreak has hampered efforts to slow down the spread of the disease.

A local politician was beaten to death last month and attacks on health workers and other responders have been common as the Central African nation battles what is its 17th Ebola outbreak.

Authorities last month launched a village-centered approach to fight the outbreak but those efforts continue to face resistance from some residents who dismiss Ebola as a hoax amid a widespread distrust in the country’s government for various reasons, ranging from how it’s managed past Ebola outbreaks to chronic corruption.

World

5 Dead as Mine Collapses in West Türkiye

Members of emergency services gather as police forensic experts examine the wreckage of an ambulance helicopter after it collided with a hospital building and crashed into the ground, in Mugla, Türkiye, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Kenan Gurbuz
Members of emergency services gather as police forensic experts examine the wreckage of an ambulance helicopter after it collided with a hospital building and crashed into the ground, in Mugla, Türkiye, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Kenan Gurbuz
TT
TT

5 Dead as Mine Collapses in West Türkiye

Members of emergency services gather as police forensic experts examine the wreckage of an ambulance helicopter after it collided with a hospital building and crashed into the ground, in Mugla, Türkiye, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Kenan Gurbuz
Members of emergency services gather as police forensic experts examine the wreckage of an ambulance helicopter after it collided with a hospital building and crashed into the ground, in Mugla, Türkiye, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Kenan Gurbuz

Turkish rescuers on Friday recovered the bodies of three miners trapped in a mine collapse in western Türkiye, raising the death toll to five, local authorities said.

"The search and rescue operations carried out after the mine collapse in Soma district have ended and the bodies of the three mine workers who were trapped have been recovered," the local governor's office said on X.

The collapse occurred on Thursday at a mine in Manisa province, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the resort city of Izmir.

Authorities said seven workers were caught in the accident.

Rescue teams recovered the bodies of two miners from the site while two others were rescued and taken to hospital, leaving three trapped inside the mine, the justice minister wrote on X.

Their bodies were recovered early Friday, bringing the death toll to five.

Soma was the site of Türkiye's deadliest mining disaster in 2014, when 301 miners died from carbon monoxide poisoning following an underground fire triggered by an explosion.