‘God saved me’: Kursk rout sparks panic, bombs along Ukraine border

‘God saved me’: Kursk rout sparks panic, bombs along Ukraine border
Residents who evacuated due to shelling from villages that are close to the border with Russia gather in an evacuation center in Sumy, on August 11, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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‘God saved me’: Kursk rout sparks panic, bombs along Ukraine border

‘God saved me’: Kursk rout sparks panic, bombs along Ukraine border
  • Moscow has been forced to redeploy troops and carry out mass civilian evacuations as it struggles to stem the advance

SUMY, Ukraine: The roar of artillery fire was deafening as Tetyana conferred with neighbors in her small village, which hugs the Russian border, over whether they should hold tight or flee.
The days were relatively calm in Myropillya, she said, but the nightly bombardments had become so unbearable that even sheltering in basements no longer felt safe.
“You know what they say, it’s only when we start to feel the burning ourselves that we leave,” the 59-year-old told AFP.
Finally prompted to flee after Ukraine’s shock border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, she was at a gathering point for evacuees in the eastern city of Sumy.
The offensive has been one of Ukraine’s speediest operations since Moscow invaded in February 2022. Analysts say it is the most significant ground operation by a foreign army inside Russia since World War II.
Moscow has been forced to redeploy troops and carry out mass civilian evacuations as it struggles to stem the advance.
For Ukraine, it has been a morale boost at an otherwise perilous moment in the war.
But Russia has also responded by pounding Ukrainian border areas — where it says troops and equipment are stationed — prompting Ukrainian officials to order the evacuation of some 20,000 people on its side of the new frontline.
Sitting alone and disoriented at the Sumy evacuation center, 80-year-old Anna was tearful as she described the intensifying artillery fire in her village of Yunakivka, near the border.
“I was about to hang myself. But God saved me,” she told AFP.
“But I don’t know what to do now,” she added, perched on a temporary bed next to the few plastic bags of belongings she had been able to bring with her.
Overseeing efforts to help those who fled, aid worker Vitaliy Kaporukhin said the Ukrainian attack — planned in secret and launched without warning — had caught border residents off guard.
“People are upset,” said Kaporukhin, who works with the aid organization, Pluriton. “They’re having to leave their homes. They’re having to leave everything behind.
“Fortunately, it’s an operation from our side, and Russian forces didn’t come here. That would have been worse.”
AFP journalists saw dozens of Ukrainian military vehicles daubed with white triangles, the insignia apparently used to identify forces involved in Kursk operation, kicking up dust on roads in the Sumy border territory.
Kyiv has been tight-lipped about the operation but a top Ukrainian official told AFP its aim was to destabilize Russia by showing up its weaknesses.
In one frontier village, servicemen who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said they had been deployed inside Russia. They described intensive Russian bombardments along the border and in the Kursk region.
Another group preparing to cross into Kursk voiced confidence they could hold ground there, citing weak Russian resistance — for now.
Ukrainian troops have carved rows of new defensive lines into the Sumy region’s landscape.
Closer to the Russian border, smoke trails from Ukrainian projectiles could be seen marking the sky above sweeping fields of bright sunflowers.
The fresh scrutiny on Sumy represents a dramatic shift for a region that, compared with other eastern regions, has been spared the brunt of more than two years of devastating fighting with Russia.
But windows covered by plywood and gutted carcases of Soviet-era buildings point to frequent and deadly aerial attacks on Sumy and the surrounding area.
Air raid sirens and explosions rang out over the city, itself just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, at regular intervals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army stormed into the surrounding region when he ordered the invasion in February 2022, but within several weeks had been pushed by an unexpectedly resolute Ukrainian resistance.
This weekend the Ukrainian army said it was the region most heavily targeted by Russian aerial attacks, retaliatory strikes for the ongoing offensive.
“The border villages have already been wiped out,” said Tetyana, whose first regret was having to leave behind the pickles she had spent the summer preparing. “There is nothing left there.”
Despite the evacuations and the looming threat of Russian retaliation, life has seemed relatively normal in the region’s main civilian hub in recent days.
Shouting children played in a water fountain in the center of the Sumy, which had a population of around 250,000 before the war. Residents enjoyed evening meals on restaurant terraces dotting the historic center.
At the evacuation center, residents who had fled reported that Moscow had stepped up attacks, using devastating glide bombs on border areas.
Retired metal worker Mykola, who left his village of Khotyn some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Russia, admitted it had pained him to have to leave his home.
But he found some consolation from Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk.
“Let’s let them find out what it’s like,” the 70-year-old said. “They don’t understand what war is.
“Let them have a taste of it.”


Banned by Taliban, Afghan women’s voices increasingly dismissed abroad

Banned by Taliban, Afghan women’s voices increasingly dismissed abroad
Updated 10 sec ago
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Banned by Taliban, Afghan women’s voices increasingly dismissed abroad

Banned by Taliban, Afghan women’s voices increasingly dismissed abroad
  • Afghanistan’s new ‘vice and virtue’ law bars women from raising their voice in public
  • International debates on Afghan women’s rights rarely include those living in Afghanistan

KABUL: With a new Taliban law banning women from raising their voice in public, female activists in Afghanistan claim they are also being silenced in the West, where their representation is increasingly dismissed.
Regulations issued last month by the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice introduced stricter dress codes for all Afghans, but the restrictions stipulated that women not only cover themselves completely, including the face, but also conceal their voices in public.
“The government has practically ignored the voice of women and is seeking to eliminate as much of the role of women in society as possible,” Haida Akbari, a women rights activist in Kabul, told Arab News.
“The ban on women’s voices is one of the steps toward the elimination of women’s social role — neither the first nor the last.”
The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, when US-led forces withdrew after two decades of war following the invasion of the country.
Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, and attending public spaces such as public parks or gyms.
Each of the restrictions has spurred condemnation and sparked debate in the West. But while these are aimed at defending the rights of women, they rarely include the voices of those facing the reality of life inside Afghanistan.
In recent discussions on the impact of the new “vice and virtue” law, a Canadian broadcaster sought a comment from a former Afghan minister, a former member of parliament, and a former government official — all living in exile.
Another international media outlet focused its coverage on comments by a male activist, and while it also invited three Afghan women to comment, not one was living in Afghanistan.
For Akbari and other female activists, such practices further erode their representation and struggle for empowerment.
“There is no doubt that a woman living inside Afghanistan who wants to continue her life inside the country is very different from someone who is outside the country,” Akbari said.
“Women inside the country want the problem to be solved, but that does not mean welcoming another war in the country ... These issues are not covered in the media.”
Adina Ranjber, director of a women-led organization OTUF, which provides skill development and employment opportunities for women in Afghanistan, said it was important that international forums offer a voice to Afghan women, especially when they were being silenced at home.
“Women’s views and demands in the country are often ignored and suppressed. It seems that there is still a long way to go for Afghan women’s views to be heard and considered. There’s a need for continued support from the international community and the media,” she told Arab News.
“Representation of women from Afghanistan in human rights discussions demonstrates respect for human rights and gender equality. This can help create a more just and equal society for both women and men.”
Ranjber said that it is not only the West that is contributing to the voices of Afghan women being sidelined on international platforms.
“One of the most important factors in the neglect of women in Afghanistan is the silence of Islamic countries and the world Muslim scholars’ unions about the issues of women in Afghanistan,” she said.
“This also gives the Western media an excuse to ignore Afghan women and add to the problem instead of solving anything.”


India’s Modi campaigns in Kashmir polls after latest soldier deaths

India’s Modi campaigns in Kashmir polls after latest soldier deaths
Updated 6 min 36 sec ago
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India’s Modi campaigns in Kashmir polls after latest soldier deaths

India’s Modi campaigns in Kashmir polls after latest soldier deaths
  • Indian-administered Kashmir has been without elected government since losing its special status in 2019
  • Modi claims the change has ushered in a new era of peace and economic progress to the dispute region

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Narendra Modi said “terrorism is on its last legs” in Kashmir while campaigning in the disputed territory on Saturday, a day after two soldiers were killed in a gunfight with suspected militants.
Indian-administered Kashmir has seen a rise in clashes between rebels and security forces ahead of the region’s first local assembly polls in a decade, which begin next week.
The Himalayan region in India has been without an elected local government since 2019, when Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government canceled the region’s semi-autonomy.
“The changes in the region in the last decade are nothing short of a dream,” Modi told thousands of supporters at the rally in Doda, part of Kashmir’s Hindu-majority southern region of Jammu.
“The stones that were picked up earlier to attack the police and the army are now being used to construct a new Jammu and Kashmir. This is a new era of progress, terrorism is on its last leg here,” he said.
Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claim that the government’s changes to the territory’s governance have brought a new era of peace to Kashmir and rapid economic growth.
The implementation of those changes in 2019 was accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long Internet and communications blackout to forestall protests.
Many Kashmiris are resentful of chafing restrictions on civil liberties that followed, and the BJP is only fielding candidates in a minority of seats concentrated in Hindu-majority areas.
Modi pledged at Saturday’s rally that his party would “build a secure and prosperous” Kashmir “that is free of terrorism and a haven for tourists.”
But this year’s local polls, which begin on Wednesday before results are announced next month, follow a spike in gunfights between security forces and rebels.
In the past two years, more than 50 soldiers were killed in clashes with rebels, mostly in the Jammu region.
The Indian army on Friday said that another two soldiers had died Friday during a firefight in the Kishtwar region, paying tribute to the “supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts” in a post on social media platform X.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947 and is claimed in full by both countries.
Rebels have fought Indian forces for decades, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
About 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989.
India accuses Pakistan of backing the region’s militants and cross-border attacks inside its territory, claims Islamabad denies.
The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought several conflicts for control of the region since 1947.


Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says

Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says
Updated 14 September 2024
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Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says

Russian forces take over village in eastern Ukraine, TASS says

Russia said on Saturday it had recaptured another village in eastern Ukraine, where it has made a string of advances.
“The locality of Jelannoe Pervoe (Jelanne Perche in Ukrainian) was freed thanks to the active and decisive operations of the southern units,” the defense ministry said.
The village is located in the Pokrovsk district, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.
Russian forces has advanced rapidly in the eastern region of Donetsk in recent weeks, putting pressure on a Ukrainian army that is short of both soldiers and weapons.


Uganda holds funeral for murdered Olympian Cheptegei

Uganda holds funeral for murdered Olympian Cheptegei
Updated 14 September 2024
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Uganda holds funeral for murdered Olympian Cheptegei

Uganda holds funeral for murdered Olympian Cheptegei

BUKWO: Ugandans on Saturday paid tributes to Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who died after her partner set her on fire in Kenya, ahead of her funeral in her family village.
The 33-year-old, who debuted this summer in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, succumbed to severe burns last week after being attacked by Kenyan Dickson Ndiema Marangach.
The brutal assault shocked the East African region and prompted a global outpouring of tributes, with activists condemning another act of gender-based violence in Kenya.
On Saturday morning, residents, officials and relatives waited in the cold morning light to pay their respects in the village of Bukwo, some 380 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of Uganda’s capital Kampala.
“We are extremely saddened,” said her estranged husband Simon Ayeko, with whom she had two daughters.
“As a father it has been very difficult,” he told AFP, explaining he had not been able to break the news to their children.
“Slowly we will tell them the truth.”
The service to honor Cheptegei, a sergeant in the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces, started around 10:00 am (0700 GMT), with officials and relatives gathering at the local council office.
The athlete was a “heroine” Bessie Modest Ajilong, the local presidential representative, told AFP.
Cheptegei’s body would move from local council headquarters, organizers said, to a nearby sports stadium so that the public could pay their respects. She will then be formally laid to rest at around 3:00 p.m. (1200 GMT).
Scores of athletes have traveled to the small village to attend the ceremonies.
“She greatly contributed to the promotion of athletics until her last days,” coach Alex Malinga, who trained her as a teenager, told AFP.
Local media say Cheptegei’s daughters witnessed the attack. Police said Marangach snuck into her home while she was at church with her children.
Her family say the couple had argued over ownership of the property where she lived with her sister Dorcas Cherop and daughters.
Her attacker later died from injuries sustained in the assault.
“I think at that time, their relationship had become sour,” Cheptegei’s brother-in-law, Moses Kipsiro, told AFP.
“I didn’t know then something was wrong,” said Kipsiro, who previously trained with Cheptegei and also hails from Bukwo.
The vicious assault has thrown yet another spotlight on what activists have called a femicide epidemic.
Kenya reported 725 femicide cases in 2022 alone, according to the latest UN figures.
A report the following year by Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics found 34 percent of women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
At least two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, have lost their lives in domestic violence incidents since 2021.


Comoros president ‘slightly injured’ in a knife attack, his office says

Comoros president ‘slightly injured’ in a knife attack, his office says
Updated 14 September 2024
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Comoros president ‘slightly injured’ in a knife attack, his office says

Comoros president ‘slightly injured’ in a knife attack, his office says
  • President Azali Assoumani’s injuries were not serious and he had returned to his home
  • Assoumani was reelected as president of Comoros in January in a vote denounced by opposition parties as fraudulent

MORONI, Comoros: The president of the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros was “slightly injured” in a knife attack while attending the funeral of a religious leader on Friday, his office said.
President Azali Assoumani’s injuries were not serious and he had returned to his home, his office said in a statement. It said the attacker was arrested by security forces and is in their custody, but gave no details on the attacker’s identity or any more information on the circumstances of the attack.
Government minister Aboubacar Said Anli said Saturday that a civilian was also injured during the attack while attempting to protect the president.
Assoumani was reelected as president of Comoros in January in a vote denounced by opposition parties as fraudulent. At least one person died in unrest following the election. Assoumani, 65, is a former military leader who first came to power in Comoros in a coup in 1999.
The country, which is made up of an archipelago of islands off the east coast of Africa, has experienced more than a dozen coups or attempted coups since its independence from France in 1975.