Houses reach the edge of the desert on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US police hunting the killer of four Muslim men in a New Mexico city said Tuesday they have arrested their "primary suspect" and charged him with two of the murders.
The killings, three of which came in the last couple of weeks, had sent shock waves through the Muslim population in Albuquerque, with community leaders talking of a growing sense of panic.
But on Tuesday, investigators said a public tip had led them to 51-year-old Afghan immigrant Muhammad Syed.
The breakthrough came after detectives had appealed for public help cracking the case, issuing a photograph of a car they believed was involved in the killings of the South Asian men.
"We tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved in a recent murder of a Muslim man in Albuquerque," Albuquerque police chief Harold Medina wrote on Twitter.
"The driver was detained and he is our primary suspect for the murders."
At a press conference, police said they were still investigating the motive.
Tensions rose in Albuquerque after the discovery on August 5 of a body near an office providing services to refugees.
That came as police were investigating the deaths of two men who had died within the previous 10 days. It is these two murders that Syed has been charged with.
A gun believed to have been used in the slayings was found during a police search of his home.
The November death of an Afghan man in the city was also being probed for a likely connection to the recent killings.
The spate of killings had set nerves on edge in the city's Muslim community.
US Says It Struck Iranian Military Sites, Tehran Responds with Air Base Attackhttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5279133-us-says-it-struck-iranian-military-sites-tehran-responds-air-base-attack
The US said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday it had targeted a US base in response, the latest in a series of exchanges amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war, Reuters said.
The strikes on Iran's Gulf coast were in response to "aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters," the US Central Command said in a post on X.
"US fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters," CENTCOM said, adding it will continue to protect US assets and interests during the ongoing ceasefire.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday it had targeted an air base used by the US for an attack on southern Iran, without identifying which base.
Air defenses in Kuwait, where a major US base is located, were intercepting missile and drone attacks on Monday as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency KUNA reported, without providing further details.
The US and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April as negotiations aimed at a more durable agreement drag on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in similar terms by both sides.
The war launched by the US and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices due to Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump has said his key aim in the war is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its highly enriched uranium. Tehran has consistently denied it has plans to do that.
Trump is under pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get US gasoline prices down ahead of the November congressional elections, as voters show increasing frustration over rising prices. At the same time, he faces a potential backlash from Iran hawks in his own party over any concessions to Tehran.
The two sides remain at odds on several other issues, such as Tehran's demands for the lifting of sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks.
Israel's war in Lebanon with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia is another major impediment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and has proposed a plan to allow for "gradual de-escalation," a US official said.
WHO Chief Reports 5 Ebola Recoveries, New Treatment Center Opens in Eastern Congohttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5279034-who-chief-reports-5-ebola-recoveries-new-treatment-center-opens-eastern-congo
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has his temperature checked as he tours the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM), in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere
WHO Chief Reports 5 Ebola Recoveries, New Treatment Center Opens in Eastern Congo
Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has his temperature checked as he tours the Evangelical Medical Center (CEM), in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere
Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday during a visit to Bunia in eastern Congo, a city at the heart of an outbreak.
“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” he added.
The WHO said Friday a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.
The health organization said authorities have reported 134 confirmed cases in Congo and neighboring Uganda, including 18 confirmed deaths as of May 29.
Recovered patients describe their experience Baraka Bulambulu, one of those who recovered, told The Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from them, keeping their distance while delivering food and medicine.
He said the uncertainty was overwhelming, as he and other patients believed they might die without knowing what disease they had, though testing eventually confirmed Ebola.
“Being able to come out of this alive is an immense source of happiness,” Bulambulu said. ”Many people who were in the same situation died.”
A health worker dresses up in personal protective equipment (PPE) at the Evangelical Medical Center, one of the facilities at the forefront of the response to the Ebola outbreak, as agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain, in Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 31, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere
Ezo Étienne, a nurse, said his symptoms began during ward rounds when he suddenly felt dizzy, then rapidly deteriorated into vomiting, intense itching, severe diarrhea and extreme weakness. He was tested seven times before Ebola was confirmed.
His treatment remained purely to treat the symptoms: medications to control vomiting, fluids to prevent dehydration and pain relievers. “That was all they could provide,” he said.
He urged the public and healthcare workers not to dismiss early symptoms such as vomiting and headaches, warning that misinformation leads many people to believe they have been poisoned rather than seeking hospital care.
Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday the virus continues to spread faster than the response despite better-organized health facilities and new aid arrivals. It called for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.
The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.
Tedros stressed the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.
“If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support," the WHO chief said.
“We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule ... is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” he added.
Attacks in the region by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with ISIS, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.
ADF fighters killed seven people Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, an area also affected by the outbreak, the Congolese army and civil society groups said.
The illness also has been reported in both North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu.
“The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,” Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at Congo's National Institute of Public Health, said during the inauguration on Sunday.
“With the symptomatic treatment that we are currently providing, we are seeing patients recover,” Akilimali added.
“We truly have hope. The virus here is not as complicated as those we have dealt with in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to bring this outbreak under control as quickly as possible,” said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.
Bus Crashes and Catches Fire in Western Türkiye, Killing 8 People, Including an Infanthttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5279000-bus-crashes-and-catches-fire-western-t%C3%BCrkiye-killing-8-people-including-infant
Bus Crashes and Catches Fire in Western Türkiye, Killing 8 People, Including an Infant
A Turkish flag is pictured on a boat in Istanbul, Türkiye, June 25, 2018. (Reuters)
A bus crashed and caught fire in western Türkiye early Sunday, leaving eight people dead, including a 9-month-old baby boy, local media reported.
The bus, owned by Pamukkale Tourism, crashed into highway barriers in Denizli province at 1:40 a.m. local time while carrying 38 passengers and three staff from Izmir to the Mediterranean city of Antalya, the Demiroren News Agency said, The AP news reported.
Some 33 people were injured in the incident. Among the dead were the 50-year-old driver and the father of the infant boy.
Images of the aftermath of the crash showed the burned out frame of the bus by the roadside.
Saturday was the final day of Eid al-Adha. The religious festival usually sees a spike in traffic accidents across Türkiye as people travel to visit family and take vacations.
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