Truck carrying migrants from India, Pak, other countries shot by Mexican soldiers, six killed
Chiapas: Mexico’s Defence Department reported on Wednesday that a truck carrying migrants from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and other countries was fired upon by Mexican soldiers near the Guatemala border which resulted in the death of six migrants.
The soldiers claimed that they heard gunfire as the truck and two other vehicles approached their position on Tuesday in the southern state of Chiapas. Two soldiers opened fire on the truck and four migrants were found dead on the spot while 12 were wounded.
The Defence Department announced in a press release that “military personnel identified identified 33 migrants of Egyptian, Nepalese, Cuban, Indian, Pakistani, and Arab nationality, of whom 4 had died, 12 injured, and 17 unharmed.” It added that two more people died after being transported to a local hospital.
Additionally, the two soldiers who fired their weapons have been relieved of duty while investigations are currently underway.
The area is reportedly a common route for smuggling migrants, who are often crammed into overcrowded freight trucks.
Irineo Mujica, a migrant rights activist who has frequently accompanied caravans in the Chiapas region, expressed skepticism that the migrants or their smugglers would have opened fire. “It is really impossible that these people would have been shooting at the army,” Mujica was quoted as saying by The Associated Press He added that most of the time they get through by paying bribes.
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At least 11 killed, dozens injured in Israeli strikes in Beirut as diplomats push for cease-fire
Beirut (Lebanon), Nov 23: Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 11 people and injured dozens in central Beirut, officials said, as diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency responders dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, it said, adding that 63 people were wounded. The strikes were the fourth in the Lebanese capital in less than a week.
The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region this week in an attempt to broker a cease-fire deal to end the more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has erupted into full-on war in the past two months.
Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in fighting in Lebanon.
Israel's war with Hamas also shows no signs of abating. Gaza's health ministry said at least 80 people were killed between Thursday and Friday in multiple strikes in the enclave's north, including the Kamal Adwan and Al-Ahli hospitals. Dozens of people are still trapped under the rubble, it said.
