MUSCAT: Muscat has secured the release of an Indian priest who was abducted last year during a deadly attack by militants in Yemen, Oman’s official news agency said.
Thomas Uzhunnalil has been held captive since March 2016, when terrorists attacked a care home operated by missionaries in the southern port city of Aden, killing 16 people including four nuns.
Oman’s news agency released a picture of Uzhunnalil wearing local traditional dress and with a flowing but tidy white beard grown while in captivity. He appeared healthy, standing tall before a portrait of the Oman’s Sultan Qaboos.
The news release said Omani authorities “coordinated with Yemeni parties” to free Uzhunnalil, described as a “Vatican employee,” at the request of the sultan.
The priest, who is in his mid-50s, last appeared in a video circulated online in December 2016, in which he appealed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis to secure his freedom.
Yemeni authorities have blamed Daesh for last year’s attack. Al-Qaeda, which is also active in the area, distanced itself from the mass shooting, saying that it was not involved.
The internationally recognized government in Yemen is grappling with both an Iran-backed rebellion and a growing terrorist presence.
Oman secures release of priest abducted in Yemen last year
Oman secures release of priest abducted in Yemen last year
UN chief says those behind ‘unacceptable’ Homs attack must face justice
- France says the "terror" attack is designed to destabilize the country
UNITED NATIONS/PARIS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the deadly attack on Friday prayers at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. He stresses that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
France also condemned the attack, calling it an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country.
The attack “is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria and the transition government,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
It condemned what it said was an attempt to “compromise ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability.”
The attack, during Friday prayers, was the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, the extremist group Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
