Nepal floods, landslides kill 47 people
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 47 people in southern Nepal and left thousands homeless, police said Sunday.
The death toll was expected to go up, with around two dozen people missing and feared dead after three days of heavy downpours in at least nine southern districts of the Himalayan country, said police spokesman Pushkar Karki.
Around 31,000 families have been displaced by the floods and landslides, which began Friday, he said.
Police said floodwaters toppled telephone towers and power lines, cutting communications and electricity in many areas.
Rescue efforts were hampered by incessant rain and roads that were washed away in many places. Traffic on Nepal’s main East-West highway was stopped after parts of the road and some bridges were severely damaged by the floodwaters.
17 people killed in Burkina Faso eatery
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Suspected Islamic extremists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant late Sunday in the capital of Burkina Faso, killing at least 17 people in the second such attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the past two years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours today with yet another heavy exchange of gunfire overheard by witnesses.
Communication Minister Remi Dandjinou told journalists that at least 17 people were dead and eight others wounded, according to a provisional toll. The victims came from several different nations, he said. Among the dead was at least one French national.
Security forces arrived at the scene with armored vehicles after reports of shots fired near Aziz Istanbul, an upscale restaurant in Ouagadougou. The attack was reminiscent of the January 2016 attack at another cafe that left 30 people dead.
Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It shares a northern border with Mali, which has long battled Islamic extremists.
Syrians doubled turf, Russian says
BEIRUT — The Syrian government has increased the size of the territory under its control by 2½ times in just two months, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Sunday, as Syrian forces backed by regional allies and the Russian air force seized thousands of square miles from the Islamic State group in the center of the country.
Syrian government forces supported by Iranian-organized militias and the Russian air force have recaptured much of the country’s central Homs province from the Islamic State group in 2017. Most of the province is desert. It contains several energy fields as well as phosphate minerals.
They are driving toward the city of Deir el-Zour, kept under siege by Islamic State militants since 2015.
Shoigu, in an interview on Russian state-owned Rossiya 24 TV, said recapturing Deir el-Zour “will say a lot, if not everything, about the end of the battle with” the Islamic State group.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported Sunday that government forces killed at least 25 militants in a commando operation in the desert region. It said the soldiers rappelled down from helicopters to ambush the militants, under the cover of Russian air strikes.
2 GIs die in Iraqi fighting, U.S. says
BAGHDAD — Two American soldiers have been killed while conducting combat operations in Iraq, the U.S. military said Sunday, adding that “initial reports indicate the incident was not due to enemy contact.”
Five other soldiers were wounded, it said in a statement, without providing further details. It did not identify the soldiers.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of U.S. forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq, said the coalition “sends our deepest condolences to these heroes’ families, friends and teammates.”
More than 5,000 U.S. troops are taking part in the war against the militant group in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. The vast majority operate within heavily guarded bases, collecting and sharing intelligence with Iraqi forces and providing logistical support.
A Section on 08/14/2017