ISTANBUL: Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighboring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.
An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged.
Koca said 121 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,890. A total of 1,822 people have recovered from coronavirus so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours came to 40,520, the minister said.
The Interior Ministry also said it was extending restrictions on travel between 31 cities for a further 15 days starting at midnight on Saturday.
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Turkey’s coronavirus cases overtake Iran, highest in Middle East
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Turkey’s coronavirus cases overtake Iran, highest in Middle East
- An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China
- The Interior Ministry said it was extending restrictions on travel between 31 cities for a further 15 days starting at midnight on Saturday
Iraqi militia claims drone attack targeting US troops in Baghdad
DUBAI: An Iraqi Shiite militia claimed a drone attack Monday targeting US troops at the airport in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, further widening the retaliation over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The group, Saraya Awliya Al-Dam, is one of a group of Shiite militias operating in Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The US and Iraq did not immediately comment on the claim.
The attack comes as Iranian-supported militias including the Lebanese group Hezbollah have entered the war started by the US and Israel launching an airstrike campaign targeting Iran’s theocracy.
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