China to provide USD 200,000 for victims of bomb attack on Iranian school
Beijing (PTI): China on Friday said it will provide USD 200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to the students killed in an airstrike on an elementary school in Iran in the ongoing joint US-Israel attacks on the country.
China expresses deep condolences regarding the deaths of students in the recent attack on an Iranian elementary school and extends sincere sympathies to their families, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a media briefing here.
Red Cross Society of China has decided to provide the Iranian Red Crescent Society with USD 200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance, he said.
Guo said China condemns all indiscriminate attacks against civilians and non-military targets. Targeting schools and harming children constitute a severe violation of international humanitarian law and cross the bottom line of human morality and conscience, he added.
"China is willing to continue to offer necessary support to Iran in the spirit of humanitarianism to help the Iranian people overcome the difficulties," he said.
According to a statement by the United Nations on March 1, missiles reportedly destroyed a girl’s primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing around 150 and wounding almost 100. Many students are believed to be among the dead. Iran has blamed the US and Israel for the attack on the school.
The US military's Central Command (Centcom) said it was looking into reports of the incident, while Israel's military said it was "not aware" of any IDF operations in the area, the BBC reported.
The girls' school was located in Minab, near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base, which has previously been a target, it said.
Since the outbreak of hostilities with Israel and the US bombing Iran, leading to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, China, a close ally of Tehran, has been calling for an immediate stop to military operations with a ceasefire.
China urges parties to stop military operations at once, avoid further escalation, and prevent the regional turmoil from having a larger impact on global economic growth, Guo said in his media briefing on Thursday.
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Explosive device kills 13, injures 38 on bus in southwestern Colombia as violence persists
Bogota (Colombia) (PTI): An explosive device killed 13 people travelling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country's army chief described as a “terrorist act" that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates.
Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.
Gen. Hugo Lopez, commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act" and blamed the network of a man known as “Ivan Mordisco” — one of Colombia's most wanted figures — and the Jaime Martínez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.
Neither Ivan Mordisco nor the Jaime Martínez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the attack on X.
“Those who carried out the attack and killed seven civilians — and wounded 17 others — in Cajibío — many of them Indigenous people — are terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers,” he wrote.
The attack is the latest in a spate of explosions that have attempted to target public infrastructure. At least 26 incidents have taken place in the past two days in southwestern Colombia, which Lopez said have only affected civilians.
They included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones earlier on Saturday. No one was hurt.
On Friday, two vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated near military units in Cali and Palmira, causing material damage.
The escalation of violence in that region — a territory contested by illegal armed groups linked to drug trafficking — prompted the mobilisation of high-ranking officials on Saturday. Led by Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez, the delegation that includes regional governors and local authorities, was meeting in Palmira when the deadly explosion occurred.
“These criminals seek to instil fear, but we will respond with firmness,” Sanchez said on X.
Meanwhile, Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, has called upon the national government to provide “immediate support.” In a message on X, Toro called for a reinforcement of public security forces, enhanced intelligence operations and “decisive actions” against crime in the face of a “terrorist-level escalation.”
According to authorities, Cauca and Valle del Cauca serve as a critical hub for illicit activities of illegal armed groups vying for control over sea and river access routes leading to the port of Buenaventura — a key transit point used to traffic drugs to Central America and Europe.
The government has also offered a reward of more than 1 million dollars for information leading to the capture of “Marlon,” who is identified as the leader of the region's dissident group. On Friday, local authorities offered more than USD 14,000 for information leading to the identification and location of those behind the attacks in Cali and Palmira.
