He only wanted his children to live respected life: Family mourns sewadaar killed in temple assault
New Delhi (PTI): Living with his in-laws in Delhi and supporting his family on a pay of about Rs 5,000 from a temple, Yogendra Singh, though, had many hardships in life, but he never complained.
What kept Yogendra (35), a sewadaar at Kalkaji Temple, going was to make his son and daughter educated enough so that they could lead a better and respected life one day. On Friday night, that dream came to an end.
The sewadaar was allegedly beaten up by a group of men on Friday night after a quarrel over prasad turned violent. He was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he succumbed to his injuries, police said.
Kaushal Singh, the victim's elder brother, who also helps at a temple, said he was outside for some work when the incident occurred. "I got a call late at night that Yogendra had been attacked. By the time I could reach the hospital, he was gone," Kaushal told PTI.
Yogendra is survived by his wife Jaya, son Krishna (8) and daughter Pari (6).
"He always said he only wanted his children to live an educated and respected life. Even though the job was not stable, as he was replaced every two months by someone else and paid so little, he was happy in the 'seva' he did for God and devotees. Now what will happen to his wife and kids? Their entire future has been shattered," Kaushal said, breaking down.
Recalling his father's death in 2017, he said that their mother has been living with each of her three sons in turns. "She is inconsolable now. My sister-in-law's entire world has turned upside down, and we don't know how to tell the children," he added.
According to the police, the quarrel broke out after some visitors demanded 'chunniprasad'.
When Singh refused, as it was over, the group allegedly dragged him outside and assaulted him with sticks, the police said, adding that the incident was captured on the CCTV camera.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said one of the accused, Atul Pandey (30), was caught on the spot by locals and handed over to the police. There were two others, Mohan alias Bhura (19) and Kuldeep Bidhuri (20), who were caught on Saturday.
As relatives wailed at his home, Kaushal's voice trembled, "This sort of injustice should not happen to anybody. He was a great man, always responsible for his family. Now the family is devastated; they have nothing left to look forward to anymore."
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Malian defence minister killed in attack that saw jihadis and rebels seize towns, military bases
Dakar (AP): Malian Minister of Defence Gen. Sadio Camara was killed in an attack as jihadi and rebel forces seized towns and military bases across the country, according to a military officer and two other sources on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from the Malian government.
“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence, Gen. Sadio Camara, has been killed during the attack which targeted his house yesterday,” said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the media.
Two other people, a civil society leader and a security member, confirmed the information.
Separatist fighters on Saturday joined Islamic militants in launching one of the biggest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities that left at least 16 wounded.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and Islamic State group-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
Malian troops and Russian mercenaries withdrew from the northern city of Kidal after the attacks, the rebels said Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a separatist group, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
The Malian army did not respond to requests for comment but in an earlier statement said they were “tracking down terrorist armed groups in Kidal.”
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
It was the first time the separatists worked alongside the al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM, which also claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on Bamako's international airport and four other cities, including Kidal, in central and northern Mali.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.
Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said that the coordination between the two groups, as well as the explicit call for the Russian military to leave, is new.
“The coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time, real coordination on the military level but also on the political level because both claims of both groups they acknowledged that they worked together, this is a first,” said Nasr.
Mali government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on state television late Saturday that 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.
The governor of Bamako's district, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, announced a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Economic Community of West African States has condemned the attacks and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”
The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.
In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako's airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while the attacks were a major blow to the credibility of Mali's Russian partners, JNIM is unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.
“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities. They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” Laessing said.
