250 dead in Syria's Eastern Ghouta in 48hrs: Rights group
Damascus: At least 250 civilians have been killed by shelling and air strikes in Syria's Eastern Ghouta in the past 48 hours, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Tuesday.
The death toll included 58 children and 42 women, the group said in what was termed as the deadliest attack in the city in the last few years.
More than 100 were killed and another 1,200 people were wounded by the Syrian regime shelling and air strikes on Monday on the besieged Damascus suburb, the rebel-held town of Hamouria, the CNN said.
The SOHR activists and residents described it as "being under constant bombardment". The rights group said at least 106 of the civilian deaths took place on Tuesday.
The monitoring group said the death toll is the highest since the 2013 alleged chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta, which activists say killed approximately 1,400 people.
"These are the worst days of our lives in Ghouta," Eastern Ghouta hospital director and pediatrician Amani Ballour said. "We in Ghouta have been getting hit by air strikes for more than five years and this is not new to us ... but we have never seen anything like this escalation."
Various Islamic rebel groups control Eastern Ghouta, including the Al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was previously known as Jabhat al Nusra before renouncing its ties to Al Qaeda.
Doctors said medics were working round the clock treating hundreds of injured people. Several medical facilities in Eastern Ghouta were reported to have been struck on Monday, the CNN report said.
Medical supplies were already in short after years-long siege of the area that began in 2012.
Now, Syrian regime forces are accelerating their offensive against the suburb, one of the last rebel-controlled areas in the country.
"I can tell you that the situation is very catastrophic ... there were four hospitals that were destroyed...," said Fares Ouraiba, a doctor from the Damascus suburb. He said most of the dead were women and children.
Besides, 13 more people were killed and 77 others wounded when militants in Eastern Ghouta fired 114 rocket and mortar rounds on several neighbourhoods here on Tuesday, said Syria state-run SANA news, citing police.
SANA added that the Syrian army responded to the attacks with "precise strikes", destroying rocket launchers and fortified positions used by the armed groups.
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Karnataka Lokayukta to register case, probe Bowring wall collapse
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Lokayukta Justice B S Patil on Thursday took serious note of the compound wall collapse at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in the city that killed seven people, and announced registration of a case on its own while warning of action against officials found responsible.
The Lokayukta, who visited the site and conducted an inspection, expressed strong displeasure over the incident and questioned the inaction of authorities, even as police and emergency teams had earlier rushed to the spot to rescue victims trapped under the debris following heavy rain, strong winds and a hailstorm on Wednesday evening.
“I will now register a suo motu case. This is not just about this one incident — such incidents must not occur anywhere in the state or the city in the future,” Justice Patil told reporters.
Seven people, including a six-year-old girl, were killed and seven others injured when the compound wall collapsed as rain-battered victims had taken shelter near it, according to police. The victims included people from Kerala who were in the city on a study tour.
Calling for systemic accountability, the Lokayukta said, “Dilapidated buildings and weakened compound walls, especially in areas with public access, must first be identified. They must either be repaired, demolished, or rebuilt.”
He added that responsibility would be fixed on officials of the BBMP and the concerned departments.
Justice Patil said that hearings would be conducted and preventive action initiated, while also probing those responsible for it, how the incident could have been prevented, and why it was not prevented.
A Scene of Crime Officers (SOCO) team and a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team also inspected the site, while police cordoned off Kovil Street to facilitate the probe.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the government had initiated measures following the rain-related incidents and stressed preparedness.
“Since last night we have initiated measures regarding the rains. When it rains heavily, we must be prepared, and we are working towards that,” he told reporters here.
On the wall collapse, Shivakumar said, “I will not directly blame any officials. It was an old wall, and trees had grown alongside it. Due to that pressure, it collapsed.”
The Deputy CM said instructions had been issued to identify such vulnerable structures and clear areas around them, including relocating street vendors.
Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said a technical assessment had been ordered.
“This is a very serious matter. Innocent people have been affected. We are issuing directions to the engineers to find out why this compound wall collapsed and to assess its structural strength,” he told reporters after inspecting the spot.
The Minister noted that the wall was ‘very old’ and required thorough examination to prevent recurrence.
Speaking to reporters, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked the Karnataka government to take precautions to ensure that incidents like the collapse of the Bengaluru government hospital compound wall, which caused loss of life, should not repeat.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad said the collapse raised questions about construction and maintenance practices.
“If a wall collapses within 25 years of its construction, it needs to be examined -- whether there was any technical issue, or if anything was altered inside, weakening it. All this can only come out through a technical investigation,” he said.
The Congress MLA also called for wider structural audits across the city, stating that all such structures, whether private or government, must be audited.
He urged citizens to support victims, saying it was a collective responsibility in times of crisis.
