A Ukrainian attack on a Russian naval base blew a hole in the hull of a large warship and caused severe damage, sources have claimed.
The Olenegorsky Gornyak, a 112-metre landing vessel, reportedly suffered a “serious breach” from the drone strike and is unable to carry out combat missions.
Ukraine attacked the Novorossiysk base in southern Russia this morning. A naval drone loaded with 450 kilograms of TNT crashed into the hull of the ship, which had 100 crew members on board, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Grainy footage from a camera mounted on the drone apparently shows it slamming into the port side of the landing ship.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had repelled the attack, while regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed there had been no casualties or damage.
An unconfirmed video, published on social media, seemingly shows the Olenegorsky Gornyak listing to one side and being towed away.
An imam stabbed and shot to death in a mosque that was then burned to the ground. A young doctor, walking home, set upon by an armed mob who thrashed and molested her. A railway officer, boarding a train, prowled the carriages for his targets and shot dead three men. The incidents, which all took place in India this week, were seemingly unconnected, yet the victims were united by a common factor: they were all Muslim.
Since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power in 2014, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, incidents of sectarian violence targeting the Muslim minority, who make up about 14% of the population, have become increasingly frequent.
Hardline vigilante Hindu rightwing groups, emboldened under the Modi regime, have carried out sustained persecution and lynchings of Muslims and held a growing number of rallies and marches platforming anti-Muslim hate speech and genocidal calls to violence. In BJP-controlled states, Muslims have been described as “intruders”, faced discriminatory policies and had their homes bulldozed.
Yet, as India heads towards an election next year with Modi expected to win a third term, many fear such flares-ups of violence will continue to worsen as the pursuit of electoral victories splinters society further down religious lines. Modi has so far remained silent on this week’s events.
“Since this government came into power for a second time in 2019, this kind of violence has accelerated noticeably,” said Neera Chandhoke, a fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies in Delhi. “I’m scared at what’s happening to our society. My worry is that as we get closer to the election, there will be more of these incidents, it will be more funeral pyres and burial grounds.”
Last Friday, as she was coming home from work, 23-year-old Zarin Khan, a physiotherapist from Madhya Pradesh, a BJP-ruled state, ended up in hospital after she was set upon by a mob of four Hindu men. According to her account, they began beating her and attacking her with bats and iron rods, tearing off her hijab, molesting her and shouting religious insults at her. As she pleaded for help they laughed and told her: “You can’t do anything, the administration is ours.”
On Monday, it was the names of Modi and Yogi Adityanath, a hardline Hindu monk who is also a BJP chief minister, that were called out by a railway officer, Chetan Singh, as he committed what many have categorised as a hate crime. After Singh boarded a train bound for Mumbai, he first shot his supervisor and then marched through the carriages and singled out three Muslim men, their religion identifiable by their names and beards, and shot them dead.
“They operate from Pakistan,” Singh can be heard saying in a video circulated of the incident as he stood over the bloodied body of 48-year-old Mohammad Asgar, a bangle-maker who was travelling to find work. “If you want to live in India, you must vote for Modi and Yogi.”
For Asgar’s brother, Mohammad Sanaullah, 36, the killing was beyond comprehension. “It is clear that he was attacked because he was Muslim,” he said. “If my brother can be killed like this, how can I feel safe? How will any Muslim feel safe? This all can be stopped if the government wishes to. But do they want to stop it? I doubt it.”
Similar grief gripped 25-year-old Shadab Anwar. Late on Monday night, his brother Mohammad Saad, 22, an imam, was murdered in a mosque in Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi, by a rightwing Hindu mob of more than 100 men. Police had been standing watch around the mosque at the time and yet the attack on the young cleric was clearly merciless, according to Anwar, who later viewed the body.
“He was attacked brutally,” said Anwar. “His chest was torn. There were several bullet wounds and deep cuts, apparently inflicted by a knife. Even his hands had received cuts.”
Anwar had spoken to his brother less than half an hour before the attack and Saad had assured him he would be safe because of the police protection at the mosque. But at midnight the electricity was cut and not long after the mob descended.
They killed Saad and shot two others, severely injuring them. Four Hindu men have been arrested over the killing. “Where and how will we feel safe?” said Anwar. “This all happened in an urban area, near India’s capital, and in the presence of police.”
The mosque, one of the few places for Muslims to pray in the city, was reduced to blackened rubble, yet the mosque manager, Mohammad Aslam Khan, 58, said he could not return to see the damage. “I am too afraid,” said Khan.
The attack on the mosque and Muslim businesses was deemed to be revenge for an incident earlier that day, after an annual rally organised by the hardline far-right Hindu organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) – which has links to the BJP – through the Muslim-majority district of Nuh, was met with violence from Muslims.
The police and the state government, run by the BJP, have since faced criticism for allowing the rally to take place. According to accounts, as it went through the town, weapons including guns were brandished and anti-Muslim slogans were raised by a VHP cadre. In retaliation, a large crowd of Muslims began throwing stones and setting alight vehicles to stop the march, many having gathered after word spread on social media that a notorious Hindu rightwing leader, who stands accused of murdering two Muslim men in February and burning their bodies, was present.
It quickly erupted into all-out violence, with three mosques vandalised, and two home guards officers killed. The Hindu temple in the town remained untouched.
In a speech by the VHP general secretary, Surendra Jain, before the rally began and captured on video, he said the region was “Hindu land” and referred to Muslims variously as “cow slaughterers”, “Hindu murderers”, “Bangladeshi intruders” and Pakistani spies. He said: “Hindus will not rest in peace, nor let anyone rest in peace till victory is achieved.”
Sandeep Singh, 35, was among several non-Muslim residents of Nuh who said they had always lived peacefully with their Muslim neighbours and described the march as a deliberate provocation by outsiders.
“They came here in the name of a rally but it seemed like they were provoking the Muslims,” he said. “When I saw the mob coming, many with swords and some holding pistols, I rushed inside my house. Then there was firing and commotion outside.” The police, he noted, were walking just behind the VHP mob before the clashes began.
Speaking to local media, the police chief Narendra Bijarniya said: “We never imagined such large-scale violence could happen. There have been shortcomings, no doubt, that’s why the violence happened.”
VHP leaders have denied inciting any violence. According to the BJP chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, the clashes were a “big conspiracy” by those who planned an attack on the VHP march. In towns surrounding the area, families reported that dozens of young Muslim men had since been picked up from their homes by police, and hundreds of homes of largely poor migrant Muslim families were bulldozed by state authorities on Thursday, reportedly for “encroaching on government land”.
In the aftermath, police struggled to contain the tensions. On social media, Hindu rightwing leaders put out calls to incite more violence on Muslim towns and in one nearby village of Manesar, VHP leaders held a meeting where it is alleged they called for Muslims to “leave as soon as possible”.
The unrest soon spread further afield to Gurgaon, a city that is both a gleaming multinational tech hub and a hotbed of hardline Hindu nationalist politics where Muslims have faced sustained harassment over their right to pray in the open.
As well as the mosque, Muslim restaurants, shops and homes were burned and migrant Muslim families living in Gurgaon reported being threatened by mobs and told to leave the city immediately, and others were refused work.
“Many Muslims working in the area have been told to not come to work,” said Mohammad Saleem, 45, a migrant worker from Bihar living in Gurgaon. “The owner of the store is scared to employ me now, even my wife was told to not report to work. A vicious atmosphere is being created.”
Niger's ousted leader has urged the US and "entire international community" to help "restore... constitutional order" after last week's coup.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, President Mohamed Bazoum said he was writing "as a hostage".
He also warned that the region could fall further under Russian influence, via the Wagner Group which already operates in neighbouring countries.
Niger's West African neighbours have threatened military intervention.
On Thursday, the coup leaders announced they were withdrawing the country's ambassadors from France, the US, Nigeria and Togo.
In a statement read out on national television, they said the functions of the four ambassadors had been "terminated".
Only hours before, Niger's ambassador to the US, Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, told AFP news agency that the junta "should come to reason" and "realise that this affair cannot succeed".
Niger coup: The basics:
Where is Niger? It's a vast country in West Africa, and one of the poorest countries in the world, but has been a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants.
Why was there a coup? The military said it seized power because of insecurity and the economic situation, but there have been suggestions it came after reports the coup leader was about to be sacked.
What next? It's feared the military may seek to switch allegiance to Russia and close French and US bases there; for their part, Niger's neighbours have threatened to use force to end the coup.
Niger is a significant uranium producer - a fuel that is vital for nuclear power - and under Mr Bazoum was a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa's Sahel region.
In his newspaper article, Mr Bazoum warned the coup, if it succeeded, would have "devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world".
"Fighting for our shared values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make sustainable progress against poverty and terrorism," Mr Bazoum wrote.
"The Nigerien people will never forget your support at this pivotal moment in our history."
Mr Bazoum also warned of the coup leaders' links to Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates elsewhere in the region and has been seen by many as exercising a malign influence in Niger.
"The entire central Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner group, whose brutal terrorism has been on full display in Ukraine," wrote Mr Bazoum.
Many supporters of the coup in Niger have been chanting pro-Russian slogans and wearing the colours of the Russian flag.
There is no indication that Wagner was involved in the overthrow of Mr Bazoum, according to the US - but Wagner's leader has reportedly described the coup as a triumph. The Russian government, however, has called for the ousted president to be returned to power.
The military takeover has also been internationally condemned, including by the EU, UN and the US.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Mr Bazoum on the phone, with the US saying afterwards it was committed to the restoration of Niger's democratically elected government.
Mr Bazoum, the first democratically elected president to succeed another in Niger, was detained by his own guards last week. Coup leader Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani has been installed as head of state.
Niger is a key part of the African region known as the Sahel, an area plagued by jihadists and beset by military regimes. In recent years it had been seen as an example of relative stability, while its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso succumbed to military coups.
It hosts French and US military bases which are used to fight Islamist insurgents.
President Bazoum's government has been a partner to European countries trying to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, agreeing to take back hundreds of migrants from detention centres in Libya. He has also cracked down on human traffickers.
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By James Waterhouse in Kyiv & Kathryn Armstrong in London
BBC News
A Russian naval ship has been damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack in the Black Sea, Ukrainian sources say.
The assault reportedly occurred near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which is a major hub for Russian exports.
Russia's defence ministry said it had repelled a Ukrainian attack on its naval base there which involved two sea drones, but did not admit any damage.
But Ukrainian security service sources say the Olenegorsky Gornyak was hit and suffered a serious breach.
They told the BBC a sea drone was carrying 450kg (992lb) of dynamite when it hit the ship.
Russia made no mention of any damage in its report of the incident.
Sea drones are small, unmanned vessels which operate on or below the water's surface.
A video sent to the BBC by a source with Ukraine's security service appears to show the drone approaching a ship thought to be the Olenegorsky Gornyak.
The footage shows a vessel travelling right up to the side of a ship before the feed cuts out, apparently on impact.
Another unverified video is thought to show the ship listing to one side.
The Olenegorsky Gornyak is a landing ship, designed to launch amphibious forces close to shore for beach landings but also to dock and quickly unload cargo at ports.
Any damage to it may interfere with Russia's efforts to resupply forces fighting in occupied southern Ukraine, although the Russian fleet is unlikely to be significantly impacted.
The Novorossiysk port temporarily suspended any movement of ships following the assault, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which loads oil on to tankers at the port.
Research by BBC Verify suggests Ukraine has carried out at least 11 attacks with sea drones - targeting military ships and Russia's naval base in Sevastopol, as well as Novorossiysk harbour in a previous attack.
This is based on announcements by Russian and Ukrainian authorities, and local media reports. Ukrainian defence sources have told CNN that sea drones had also been used in an attack on the Kerch Bridge in Crimea in July.
Friday's attack comes just a few days after Ukraine revealed the external appearance and some details of what they have described as their "new" weapon - unmanned naval drones.
According to BBC Russian military correspondent, Pavel Aksenov, Ukraine has been using these drones to attack Russian ships since last year so they are not exactly new.
However, he says these vessels represent a new stage in the evolution of naval warfare, where small, unmanned boats can inflict damage on large ships with powerful weaponry.
This is not the first time Ukraine has tried to hit the Novorossiysk port, and the reasons are obvious.
Around 1.8m barrels of oil are exported from there every day - around 2% of the global supply.
It is also an important naval base for Moscow.
Clashes in the sea have increased in recent weeks, after Russia abandoned a UN deal that enabled grain to be safely exported between Russia and Ukraine across the water.
Ukrainian ports have been pummelled by Russian drones and Kyiv seems to have been keen to respond.
It is also more willing to admit to strikes involving sea drones than the attacks seen further inside Russia.
President Zelensky has warned of the war "coming to Russia", despite suggesting a peace summit could happen "as early as the autumn".
Neither side appears overly keen to set the conditions for that.
Earlier this week, Russia attacked big Black Sea ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, where authorities said 60,000 tonnes of grain were destroyed, as well as ports on the River Danube.
Separately on Friday, Russia also said it had downed 10 Ukrainian aerial drones over Crimea.
At least 13 people were injured in South Korea after a man rammed a car onto a pavement and then stepped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people near a subway station in the city of Seongnam.
The Southern Gyeonggi province police department said at least nine people were stabbed and four others were injured by the vehicle following the incident on Thursday.
Police did not confirm whether any were in serious condition.
Police were questioning an unidentified suspect who was arrested at the scene.
In response to the attack, the National Police Agency said it would hold an online meeting with regional police chiefs to discuss ways to deal with stabbings and other attacks against random targets.
Last month, a knife-wielding man stabbed at least four pedestrians on a street in the capital Seoul, killing one person, police said.
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By Max Matza & Sarah Smith
BBC News
Former US President Donald Trump will be formally charged at a court hearing later for allegedly plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Mr Trump, 77, is due to appear at a federal courthouse in Washington DC on Thursday at 16:00 EDT (20:00 GMT).
It is expected that he will attend in person and plead not guilty.
On the eve of the arraignment he slammed the case as proof of the "corruption, scandal, and failure" of the US under Joe Biden's presidency.
Mr Trump already faces two other criminal cases as he campaigns for the White House next year.
In this latest indictment, Mr Trump faces four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US, tampering with a witness and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.
The former president has visited Washington DC only once since leaving the White House. A queue was already forming on Wednesday evening outside the courthouse.
A spokesman for the US Marshals Service, a federal law enforcement agency that guards courts, told Reuters news agency that Mr Trump would be fingerprinted and asked to provide basic information, such as his date of birth and Social Security ID number.
Mr Trump will appear before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, while another judge, Tanya Chutkan, will handle the criminal trial.
Reuters
Security is being ramped up in the city for Thursday's hearing.
Metal barriers have been put up outside the federal courthouse where the charges against Mr Trump will be formally read.
Similar structures have been erected around the US Capitol buildings, where Trump supporters rioted in January 2021, angry at the election result.
The Secret Service, which provides protection to presidents and ex-presidents, released a statement warning the public of "short-term traffic implications" in central Washington DC.
Protection for judges involved in the case has also reportedly been increased.
That includes District Judge Chutkan, who told an attorney in an unrelated case that she had not slept since being assigned to Mr Trump's case, to which the lawyer replied: "Please be safe".
"I'll try," Ms Chutkan said before an open court, later joking that she wanted to keep her calendar open "in case I can get out of town, which is increasingly looking like a good idea".
Reuters
In an all-capital-letters post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the former president, who was at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, thanked his followers and said: "I never had so much support on anything before."
In other posts he attacked rival Republican presidential hopefuls, including his former Vice-President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
He repeated his argument that Mr Pence had had the legal authority to stop Congress from certifying Mr Biden's election victory on 6 January 2021, proceedings that were disrupted as Trump supporters rioted at the US Capitol.
Mr Trump's lawyers have hinted at their defence strategy.
Attorney John Lauro appeared on NBC's Today show on Wednesday and said he planned to argue that Mr Trump was protected by the right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
"[The indictment] is criminalising speech," Mr Lauro said.
Mr Trump's legal team are also resisting the prosecutors' desire for a speedy trial - saying they need time to organise their client's defence.
Getty Images
Several other suspects accused of involvement in the US Capitol riot have had hearings that were scheduled for Thursday postponed.
Mr Trump is currently the clear front-runner in the Republican Party's contest to pick its next presidential candidate.
Congressional Republicans have been rallying round him, arguing that the latest indictment shows the US has become a "banana republic" and echoing the former president's claim that the prosecutions amount to election interference.
Mr Pence, who has been struggling to gain traction in the 2024 White House race, maintained on Wednesday during a campaign stop at the Indiana State Fair that he had "done his duty" on January 6 2021.
"Sadly the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear," he said. "The president ultimately continued to demand that I choose him over the Constitution."
The 45-page election-related indictment against Mr Trump is based partly on contemporaneous notes that Mr Pence kept of their conversations in the days leading up to the US Capitol riot.
Mr Trump has already been charged in two other cases: with mishandling classified files and falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Prosecutors in Georgia may bring a criminal case against Mr Trump this month over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election result in that state.
Russia has said that it downed six drones in the Kaluga region, less than 125 miles from Moscow, amid a surge in such attacks targeting the capital.
The Russian defence ministry said it had foiled “a terrorist attack with drones”.
“This night, six drones trying to cross the Kaluga region were shot down with anti-air defence systems,” said Vyacheslav Shapsha, the regional governor.
He added that there were no casualties.
Russia said on Tuesday that it had foiled drone attacks in Moscow, but one of them hit a building in the city, which saw a similar strike last weekend.
