Four members of Sikh family shot dead in US
Washington: Four members of a Sikh family, including three women, have been fatally shot in their home in the US, authorities said.
The victims who died of gunshot wounds in their home in a suburban Ohio community were found by another relative who called the police, West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said.
"My wife and three other family members were on the ground and bleeding... they're bleeding from the head," a man said on the 911 call that was released by the police.
"No one's talking, no one's talking," he shouted. A local religious leader on Monday identified the deceased to Cincinnati Enquirer as Hakikat Singh Panag, 59, his wife, Paramjit Kaur, 62, their daughter, Shalinder Kaur, 39, and his sister-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58.
The were all shot to death around 9:50 p.m (local time) on Sunday, the report said. A coroner said all four deaths were homicides and they died from "gunshots."
At least one of them was preparing food when they died. By the time police arrived at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex, the unattended dish was on fire, police said.
Herzog said all four victims lived in the apartment where the shooting occurred. Children also live there, he said, but they were not there at the time of the attack. The Indian consulate in New York said it was in close communication with police.
"Our condolences to the bereaved family. We are in constant touch with the Police and family. We are confident about the culprit being brought to book," the Indian consulate in New York tweeted.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Externa Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted Tuesday that she was aware of the crime and did not believe it to be a hate crime. According to her tweets, one of the murder victims was an Indian resident in the US on a visit. Members of a Gurdwara at Guru Nanak Society of Greater Cincinnati, said the four family members had worshipped there.
A motive behind the slayings remains unclear, and there were no indications if it was hate crime, the report said. No suspect has been identified. Such violent crime is rare in the township of some 62,000 people roughly 323 kilometers north of Cincinnati. Herzog reassured residents Monday that he did not think there was a threat to the community and that the killings appear "isolated".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
