Air strike kills 16 in Syrian prison
Reuters, Beirut
At least 16 people died after a Friday night air strike on a prison in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province including both prisoners and staff, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Saturday.
Idlib is one of the most important strongholds of rebels, including jihadist factions, who seek to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose air force, along with that of his ally Russia, has been heavily bombarding insurgents there.
Modi sends chador to Ajmer shrine
Dawn.com, New Delhi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a ceremonial chador to be offered at the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajashthan, on the occasion of the 805 Urs of the great Sufi saint of the subcontinent.
A Times of India report said the chador will be laid on behalf of the prime minister by his representatives at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah during the Urs, which begins on March 30.
Another Putin critic shot dead in Kiev
AP, Moscow
An outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in broad daylight in Kiev Thursday, just two days after a lawyer for the family of a slain Russian whistleblower was injured in a mysterious fall from his fourth-story apartment near Moscow.
Denis Voronenkov was a former Russian Communist Party member who’d become increasingly critical of Putin’s policies after fleeing to Ukraine in 2016.
Gunmen kill Hamas official in Gaza
AFP, Gaza City
Gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Friday shot dead a Hamas official who was freed by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap, the interior ministry in the Palestinian enclave said.
