One Indian missing, 10 others stuck but safe in quake-hit Turkiye: MEA
New Delhi (PTI): An Indian is missing and 10 others are stuck but safe in remote regions of earthquake-hit Turkiye even as specialist teams sent by India to the West Asian country commenced their search and rescue operations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday.
India launched 'Operation Dost' to extend assistance to Turkiye as well as Syria following Monday's devastating quake that has killed over 11,000 people in the two countries.
At a media briefing, Secretary (West) in the MEA Sanjay Verma said while one Indian has gone missing in one of the affected areas in Turkiye, 10 others are stuck in some remote parts but they are safe.
He said three Indians who approached the Indian government were taken to a safe location, adding the Indians in Turkiye are relatively safe.
"We set up a control room in Adana in Turkiye. Ten Indians are stuck in remote parts of the affected areas but they are safe. We have one Indian national missing who was on a business visit to Turkiye. He has not been traced in the last two days. We are in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru which employs him," Verma said.
"We have received calls from around 75 persons asking our embassy there about information and assistance," he said.
The number of Indians residing in Turkiye is around 3,000 out of which about 1,800 live in and around Istanbul, while 250 are in Ankara and rest are spread all over the country, according to the official.
On Tuesday, India sent to Turkiye relief materials, a mobile hospital and specialised search and rescue teams in four C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft to support the country's rescue efforts.
India also sent relief materials onboard a C-130J aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Syria on Tuesday. On Wednesday, India despatched relief materials in another aircraft to Turkiye.
Asked about sending aid to Syria when the country has been under US sanctions, Verma said India is following the G20 mantra of 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'. "Sanctions don't cover such humanitarian assistance," he said.
On Twitter, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar shared photos of teams from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) commencing search operation in Turkiye's Gaziantep.
"It was perhaps the furthest that we have gone in terms of HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief ) involving specialised teams. We tried to live up to our reputation as first responders," Verma said.
The MEA said India has been able to send more than 250 personnel, specialised equipment and other relief material amounting to more than 135 tonnes to Turkiye on five C-17 IAF aircraft.
These include three self sustained teams of the NDRF numbering more than 150 specially trained personnel, along with dog squads, specialised equipment, vehicles and other supplies. "Their equipment allows for detection, location, access and rescue of people trapped under collapsed structures," the MEA said.
In addition, personnel and equipment have been sent to set up a 30-bed self-sustained field hospital of the Indian Army. This includes a team of 99 specially trained personnel, with essential medicines, advanced equipment, vehicles and ambulances. The MEA said the hospital will provide for a fully functional operation theatre, and facilities such as X-ray, ventilators, etc.
The NDRF teams are rendering assistance in rescue operations at Gaziantep while the medical team is setting up the field hospital in Iskenderun, the MEA said.
A team of officials of Ministry of External Affairs, two of which are Turkish speaking officers, have been deployed to Turkiye to assist the teams involved in rescue and relief operations.
"India stands committed to extend all possible support to those affected by this devastating earthquake," the MEA said.
"Operation Dost is India's latest expression of being a first responder, a net security provider, and a country whose Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief response is quick and available to countries not only in the neighbouring region, but also beyond," it said.
At the press conference, NDRF Director General Atul Karwal said the force is ready to send more teams.
India on Monday decided to immediately dispatch search and rescue teams of the NDRF, medical teams and relief material to Turkiye following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions to offer all possible assistance to the country.
Several countries, including the US and the UK, are sending relief materials and search and rescue specialists to Turkiye to help search for survivors of the quake.
The massive earthquake has killed more than 11,000 people and flattened thousands of buildings in Turkiye and neighbouring Syria.
On aid to Syria, the MEA said the consignments were handed over to the Deputy Minister of Local Administration and Environment of Syria Moutaz Douaji at Damascus airport this morning.
"The consignment consists of emergency medicines and equipment including portable ECG machines, patient monitors and other essential medical items," it said in a statement.
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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.
