Kremlin: Dagestan Airport Violence Result of ‘Outside Influence’ 

This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
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Kremlin: Dagestan Airport Violence Result of ‘Outside Influence’ 

This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of an airport in the capital of the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of "outside influence".

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It is well known and obvious that yesterday's events around Makhachkala airport are largely the result of outside interference, including information influence."

Peskov said that "ill-wishers" had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the region in the north Caucasus. He did not specify who the Kremlin believed had engineered the violence, or why.

Russia's interior ministry said on Monday that 60 people had been arrested after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the airport in Makhachkala on Sunday, shortly after a plane from Israel arrived.



River Ferry Sinks in Afghanistan, Killing at Least 20

 Members of a rescue team search for missing persons in the Kokcha river following flash floods after heavy rainfall, on the outskirts Fayzabad in Badakhshan province on May 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of a rescue team search for missing persons in the Kokcha river following flash floods after heavy rainfall, on the outskirts Fayzabad in Badakhshan province on May 26, 2024. (AFP)
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River Ferry Sinks in Afghanistan, Killing at Least 20

 Members of a rescue team search for missing persons in the Kokcha river following flash floods after heavy rainfall, on the outskirts Fayzabad in Badakhshan province on May 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of a rescue team search for missing persons in the Kokcha river following flash floods after heavy rainfall, on the outskirts Fayzabad in Badakhshan province on May 26, 2024. (AFP)

At least 20 people were killed when a boat sank while crossing a river in eastern Afghanistan Saturday morning, a Taliban official said.

Quraishi Badlon, provincial director of the information and culture department in Nangarhar province, said that the boat sank while crossing a river in Mohmand Dara district, killing 20 people including women and children.

Badlon said that the boat was carrying 25 people, according to village residents, of whom five survived.

So far five bodies have been retrieved including a man, a woman, two boys and a girl, said the Nangarhar health department in a statement. It added that a medical team and ambulances were sent to the area.

The officials didn’t provide details on the cause of the accident and said that rescuers are still searching for other bodies.

Residents of the area frequently use locally made boats to travel between villages and local markets.