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CHASIV YAR/KYIV, Ukraine: Russia opened fire with artillery, multiple rocket launchers and tanks around Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv and shelled cities in the east, where an earlier strike killed 15 people in an apartment building, Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday.

An apartment building in Kharkiv was hit by a missile overnight, but no casualties have been reported, authorities said.

A rocket strike on a five-story apartment building in the eastern town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday night killed 15 people and left two dozen people feared trapped in the rubble.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the strike was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Moscow denies it targets civilians, but Ukrainian cities, towns and villages have been left in ruins after Russian shelling, with basements and bomb shelters the only safe place for those who remain.

On Sunday, rescuers in Chasiv Yar used a crane to lift a concrete slab and their hands to dig through the debris, while dazed residents who survived the attack retrieved personal belongings and told stories of their escape.

One woman was seen walking out of the destroyed building carrying an ironing board under her arm, an umbrella and a plastic shopping bag. Others simply watched rescue efforts, fearing the worst as the dead were removed.

“We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen,” said a resident who gave her name as Ludmila.

“The second, I do not even remember, there was lightning, we ran toward the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning.”

Another survivor, who gave her name as Venera, said she had wanted to save her two kittens.

“I was thrown into the bathroom, it was all chaos, I was in shock, all covered in blood,” she said, crying. “By the time I left the bathroom, the room was full up of rubble, three floors fell down. I never found the kittens under the rubble.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, calling the conflict a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine and rid it of nationalists.

Ukraine and its Western allies say Putin’s war is an imperial land grab and has accused his forces of war crimes. Moscow denies attacking civilians.

The biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two has killed thousands, left cities and towns in ruins and seen more than 5.5 million Ukrainians flee their country.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Monday that Russian forces had launched a wave of bombardments in the east as they seek to take control of the Donbas industrial heartland.

It said the widespread shelling was preparations for an intensification of hostilities.

The Kremlin has declared victory in the Donbas’ Luhansk province and its troops are now concentrating on seizing control of neighboring Donetsk.

Putin has promised to hand control of the Donbas to pro-Russian separatists who have declared independence from Kyiv.

Russia abandoned an early advance on the capital Kyiv in the face of fierce resistance bolstered by Western arms.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk warned civilians in the Russian-occupied Kherson region on Sunday to urgently evacuate as Ukraine’s armed forces were preparing a counter-attack there, not giving a timeframe for action.

“I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields,” she said on national television.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.

ADDIS ABABA: Regional forces in southeast Ethiopia killed more than 150 Al-Shabab militiamen during fierce border clashes on Friday, the state news agency and a regional commander said, in the third round of fighting in nine days. The attacks add to the already complex security landscape in Ethiopia, where the central government is trying to put down an insurgency and calm paramilitary groups in two different regions, while starting peace negotiations in a third. “The terrorist group regrouped its scattered forces (last night) and tried to infiltrate into Ethiopia and carry out (an) attack in the area bordering Somalia with Ethiopia,” Tesfaye Ayalew, an Ethiopian army general told the state news agency ENA. Al Shabab have long sought to establish a base in Ethiopia and have, in recent years, broadcast messages in Afaan Oromo, a language spoken in Ethiopia. Al Shabab confirmed the fighting, claiming they had killed 103 Ethiopian police and occupied the town of Aato earlier on Friday. A commander with Ethiopia’s Somali regional forces rejected that death toll, saying only 14 regional Ethiopian fighters were killed. “It’s still in our control, it’s not a question,” the commander told Reuters, referring to Aato. A resident of Aato town who asked not to be identified said Al-Shabab attacked the town with car bombs and mortar shells in the morning but later fled. The commander said federal Ethiopian forces carried out several air strikes, hitting four Al-Shabab vehicles near the villages of Garasley and Lagalaay on the Somali side of the border, killing an unknown number of militants. An Al-Shabab leader had been killed in a mortar attack, he added. Al Shabab controls large swathes of Somalia and has killed tens of thousands of people in bombings in its fight to overthrow the Western-backed central government there and impose its own interpretation of Islamic law.

ISLAMABAD: A grenade exploded on Friday during a cricket game in Kabul, wounding 13 spectators at the stadium, an emergency hospital in the Afghan capital said. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter that 12 of the wounded were hospitalized while one other patient was treated and discharged. No one claimed responsibility for the explosion at the International Cricket Stadium in Kabul, where several hundred people had gathered to watch the match between Band-e-Amir Dragons and Pamir Zalmi. The afternoon game was part of the domestic T20 Shpageza Cricket league games held every year. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Afghanistan. The Taliban-appointed Kabul police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said the game was briefly halted due to the grenade explosion but later continued. “The match was going on between two teams in Shpageza League, and during the match a blast happened,” said Nassib Khan, chief executive of Afghanistan Cricket Board. Lately, the Daesh group’s regional affiliate, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, has claimed attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country. The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s new Taliban rulers. Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last August, the former insurgents have launched sweeping crackdowns against IS, which has a foothold in eastern Nangarhar province. Ramiz Alakbarov, the deputy at the UN mission in Afghanistan, condemned Friday’s attack in a statement. He was at the stadium at the time of the attack and was to address the Afghan cricket association. Alakbarov could not confirm if there were any fatalities at the stadium but wished the injured a speedy recovery. “Today’s blast is yet another harrowing reminder of the terrifying and sudden violence that the population in Afghanistan continues to be exposed to,” he said. “Sports bring people hope, inspire children and generations alike, play a crucial role in breaking down barriers and bringing communities together.” Thomas West, the US special representative for Afghanistan, said he was deeply saddened by reports of the explosion Friday during a cricket match in Kabul. “Violence serves no purpose and is not the answer for the people of Afghanistan,” said West, who succeeded Zalmay Khalilzad in the post.

MADRID: The Madrid City Council last week approved the use of land in the Spanish capital for Muslim burial spaces.

Maysoun Douas, the first and only Muslim councillor on the City Council for Mas Madrid, made a speech to highlight the problems and lack of rights faced by the Muslim community in the region.

Religious freedom includes the right to receive a dignified burial without discrimination on religious grounds, she said.

However, there is currently only one Muslim cemetery in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, in Grinon, 40 km from the center of Madrid.

In 2016, it was already full and did not even allow burials according to the Islamic rite, because municipal ordinances require the use of coffins.

The space was historically designated for Franco’s “Guardia Mora” during the Francoist dictatorship.

The Autonomous Community of Madrid has about 250 public cemeteries, 14 of which are municipal in the city of Madrid.

Of all of them, only the one in Grinon is Muslim, for about 300,000 people in the community and 100,000 in the capital who practice Islam.

All this comes under civil rights for Muslim citizens, which have been stigmatized according to Douas. 

“The official interlocutors for religious issues, organizations we trusted, convinced us that we were fighting for our rights when they were actually hijacking them,” she said.

“This is a group that needs real institutional support, as organizations have done little or nothing to implement basic rights recognized for other citizens,” she added.

After decades of stagnation and paralysis of progress, only political participation and the occupation of spaces by new voices opens the way to achieve basic rights, such as the ability to bury family members under the same umbrella of rights as any other citizen, no matter what religion they profess, she said.

LONDON: A British man convicted of helping people travel to join Daesh and accused of “grooming” the Manchester Arena bomber could soon be released from jail.

Abdalraouf Abdallah, 29, could be up for parole in November. He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in 2016 for facilitating travel for people to fight in the civil war in Syria, and of raising money to support their efforts.

He was paralyzed from the waist down while fighting in the Libyan revolution of 2011, and was arrested in 2014 in the UK for suspected terrorist activities — charges he continues to deny.

At his trial in London it was revealed that correspondence was found on his mobile phone with the Manchester Arena bomber, Salman Abedi, in which the two discussed, among other things, martyrdom and the death of a member of Al-Qaeda.

Abdallah was released on license in November 2020, but was recalled to prison soon after for breaching his behavior-related conditions.

His prospective re-release comes after a change in the law in February 2020, mandating that criminals with convictions for terrorism offenses must serve two-thirds of their sentence in jail before review by the Parole Board.

In the UK, convicted criminals typically only serve half of a given custodial sentence dependent on circumstances before parole considerations.

A Parole Board spokesperson said: “We can confirm the parole review of Abdalraouf Abdallah has been referred to the Parole Board by the secretary of state for justice and is following standard processes.

“Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community,” the spokesperson said.

“A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behavior change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

“Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.

“It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing, which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”

Abdallah’s trial heard that he arranged for the movement of people and money to Syria, all while confined to his wheelchair.

Prosecutor Max Hill, QC, accused Abdallah of being “at the center of a jihadist network facilitating foreign fighters . . . intent upon sending fighters to join groups in Syria who were committing terrorist acts in that country.”

After his conviction, Abdallah was visited in prison by Abedi, and continued to contact him via an illegal mobile phone in 2017 before the Manchester Arena bombing on May 22, which killed 23 people.

The inquiry into the bombing was told by one expert Abedi was “groomed” by Abdallah, who is from Moss Side in Manchester, claiming he converted Abedi to his “violent, Islamist, extremist world view.”

Abdallah denies involvement in the bombing. He was transferred from Wakefield Prison to give evidence at the inquiry in November 2021, where he said he was “haunted” by the attack, describing his correspondence with Abedi as “normal chitchat.”

However, Pete Weatherby, QC, representing families of the victims of the bombing, said that dialogue between the pair was “about radicalization, it was about discussing some kind of perverse death.”

COLOMBO: Security forces in Colombo have arrested 23 protesters in the past two days, police said on Friday, after parliament extended a state of emergency giving troops sweeping powers to question and detain people.

Anti-government protests in the island nation of 22 million started in March and have spread across the country.

People are struggling with daily power cuts and shortages of basic commodities such as fuel, food and medicines, as Sri Lanka runs out of foreign currency reserves, leaving it unable to pay for imports.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country earlier this month, after protesters stormed his home and presidential offices, demanding his resignation. His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been viewed as an ally of Rajapaksa, and his appointment has triggered more protests.

Wickremesinghe set out emergency rule orders when he assumed office last week — a move that lawmakers kept in place on Wednesday.

“We have arrested 23 people so far, everyone was produced before court,” Nihal Thalduwa, Sri Lanka police spokesperson, told Arab News.

He said the suspects have been charged with damaging property, obstructing government offices and theft.

“We don’t arrest peaceful protesters since they are well within the law. We have arrested the people who have exceeded their limits and committed various other offenses.”

The crackdown and emergency laws come after Wickremesinghe had sworn in a new government last week, retaining previous ministers in his new Cabinet despite an earlier promise to reach a consensus on the establishment of an all-party interim administration.

The military has since raided and dismantled camps the protesters had set up for more than 100 days opposite the president’s office — the main site of demonstrations.

Protesters continued to come onto the streets in different areas of Colombo and said their agitation has been peaceful, with the recent arrests not taking place at the demonstration sites.

“There were no clashes with the government forces,” Namal Jayaweera, a leader of the protest movement, told Arab News.

“They go home and arrest certain protesters.”

The new president was “using all his executive powers to crush the protesters,” Jayaweera alleged.

“Ranil (Wickremesinghe) is only a deal maker, we cannot accept him unless he forms an all-party interim government.”

Sri Lanka is bankrupt and has suspended repayment on its $51 billion foreign loans, as the inflation rate continues to soar.

It surged to a record 60.8 percent in July, with a 90.9 percent climb in food inflation, the statistics department said on Friday.

The government is in the process of preparing a debt restructuring plan, a condition for an International Monetary Fund bailout.