A suicide bomb struck a Kabul shrine, Karzai cancels UK trip.

A suicide bomb struck a Kabul shrine, killing at least 54, while the other blast struck near a Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif at about the same time.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has cancelled a visit to the UK to return to Afghanistan, after Tuesday`s deadly attacks in the capital, Kabul, and in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The twin attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslims killed at least 58 people. 

 

Afghan police officers stand guard

A suicide bomber detonated a device at a Shiite shrine in Kabul, as worshippers were marking the Shiite holy day of Ashura, Afghan Health Ministry spokesman Kargar Norughli said. Fifty-six people were killed and 193 were wounded, Norughli added.
Four people were killed in an explosion at a roundabout on a busy street in Mazar-e Sharif, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, police official Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said. Another 21 were wounded in that attack.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has canceled a visit to the UK to return home following Tuesday's deadly blasts in the capital, Kabul, and in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
Other source in London said Karzai had been due in London late Tuesday from Germany but was flying back to Afghanistan after the twin suicide attacks killed 60 people and wounded scores of others in the two cities.

"The first time that on such an important religious day in Afghanistan terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place".
Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the attack on the Ashura pilgrims "on one of the holiest of days in the Islamic calendar is an attack against Islam itself, and we denounce and condemn these atrocities in the strongest of terms.
Allen said."Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those innocent civilians killed or injured in today's horrific attacks,"
A NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan called the attacks "horrifying."
"That men, women and children are killed and injured on Ashura is particularly tragic," he said.
The bomb which exploded near the main mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif was apparently strapped to a bicycle, and went off shortly after the Kabul blast.
Four people were killed and 17 injured in that attack.

Eastern Turkey struck by Strong 7.2 magnitude Earthquake deaths and injuries

Up to 1,000 feared dead in magnitude-7.2 Turkish quake
Powerful 7.2 earthquake collapses around 45 buildings in eastern Turkey; reports of deaths
Several deaths after 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Turkey
UPDATE: 7.2 quake in Turkey kills 30, injuries 150
Turkey's state-run television says a powerful quake has killed 30 people and injured 150 others in the eastern town of Ercis.
 

 

 

 “My wife and child are inside! My 4-month-old baby is inside!” CNN-Turk television showed one young man crying.

 A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck mountainous eastern Turkey on Sunday, collapsing dozens of buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete. Desperate survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and injured. The worst damage hit the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van, close to the Iranian border.
Turkey's state-run State-run TRT TV reports that the earthquake has killed 30 people and injured 150 in the eastern town of Ercis.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ The Turkish Red Crescent says 25 apartment buildings and one dormitory in the eastern town of Ercis have collapsed following a large earthquake.
Van province at 1:41 p.m, which was 6:41 a.m. Eastern Standard Time here in the US. The quake was strongly felt in Van and neighboring towns, and caused damage and deaths based on initial assessments reported.
To the other survey Up to 1,000 people were feared dead after a magnitude-7.2 earthquake rocked eastern Turkey on Sunday.
"Five hundred to 1,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the quake," Professor Mustafa Erdik, director of the Kandilli seismological institute in Istanbul, told a news conference.
BBC reporter David O'Byrne: "There are people trapped under the rubble"
Turkey is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it sits on major geological fault lines.
Two earthquakes in 1999 with a magnitude of more than 7 killed almost 20,000 people in densely populated parts of the north-west of the country.
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck at 11:40am Irish time, around 12 miles northeast of the town of Yan, which has a population of around 400,000.

Turkey's prime minister to meet with Egypt's leaders

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lands in Egypt for talks as both nations are experiencing rifts with Israel over its military actions and the Palestinian issue.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to meet with Egyptian leaders Tuesday to strengthen strategic ties at a time both nations are experiencing deepening rifts with Israel over military actions and the fate of the Palestinians.