KOLKATA, India: Villagers in eastern India beat two Muslim cattle truckers to death on Sunday, police said, in yet another lynching on the pretext of protecting a beast considered sacred by many Hindus.
The drivers were transporting cows in West Bengal near the border of Bangladesh when they were stopped by villagers, police said.
“The villagers blocked the road and forced them to stop the vehicle. The two men were then dragged out of the vehicle and lynched. The driver of the vehicle escaped,” said senior West Bengal police official Anuj Sharma.
It was too early to say whether the murders were motivated by religion or suspicions the men were mistreating the cows, police added.
An investigation is underway into the lynching and into whether the drivers had legally purchased the cattle or were smugglers involved in the illicit beef trade.
West Bengal permits cow slaughter, unlike many Indian states where possession or consumption of beef is banned, and some where life sentences are imposed for breaking the law.
India has been reeling this year from a spate of vigilante murders, especially targeting Muslims for allegedly killing cows or consuming beef.
There has been a surge in attacks by “cow protection” vigilante groups, who roam highways inspecting livestock trucks for any trace of the animal.
In June three Muslims were beaten to death in West Bengal after they were allegedly caught stealing cows.
That same month Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned killing in the name of cow protection after a Muslim teenager accused of carrying beef was stabbed to death on a train.
In April a Muslim man was beaten to death by a mob in Rajasthan state after they discovered cows in his truck. The man was a dairy farmer transporting milk cows.
The following month two Muslims were beaten to death on suspicion of stealing cows. In both cases, police were accused of failing to act quickly enough to protect the victims.
Modi’s critics say vigilantes have been emboldened by the election in 2014 of his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which promised to completely outlaw cow slaughter across India.
Indian villagers lynch two Muslims transporting cattle
Indian villagers lynch two Muslims transporting cattle
Russia hits Ukraine with drones, missiles, kills at least 10 in Kharkiv
- Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure
- “There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life“
KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and killing at least 10 people, including two children, in the northeast city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure across the country.
“There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
“Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support should continue,” Zelensky said, urging partners to continue air defense and weapons supplies.
Ukrainian air defense units shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles, the air force said. But nine missiles and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites, it said.
BALLISTIC MISSILE SLAMS INTO RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
The city of Kharkiv was targeted by both Russian drones and missiles, and 10 people, including two children, were killed after a Russian ballistic missile slammed into a five-story residential building, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
“When we arrived here 20 minutes after the explosion, I thought I was going to have a stroke. I couldn’t string two words together, and my legs were buckling,” Hanna, a resident of the destroyed building, told Reuters.
“It’s good that I wasn’t there with my child and that my father was with me. It was ordinary people who lived there. What were they targeting?“
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out massive overnight strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complexes, military airfields and energy facilities, the Interfax news agency reported.
In Kharkiv, 15 people were also wounded, and 19 residential buildings were damaged by the Russian attacks, Syniehubov said.
Commercial and administrative buildings, electricity distribution lines, and cars were also hit, he said.
In Kyiv, three people were injured, and the heating was knocked out in 2,806 residential apartment buildings in four districts across the capital after Russian strikes hit an energy infrastructure facility, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said that emergency power cuts were introduced in seven regions following the Russian attacks.
Ukrainian officials said that Russia also attacked four railway stations and other railway infrastructure in central Ukraine and port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, setting on fire containers with vegetable oil and damaging a grain warehouse.
