13 killed, dozens injured in Ivory Coast road accident

Thirteen people have been killed and 45 injured in a road accident in northern Ivory Coast, after a tanker truck crashed into a bus, rescuers and local media said Saturday. (X/@LucaVaran)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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13 killed, dozens injured in Ivory Coast road accident

  • A bus carrying passengers and a petrol-filled truck on the opposite lane collided
  • “The collision between the bus and the tanker set off a fire of terrifying intensity,” leaving “13 bodies charred” by the flames, Police Secours wrote

ABIDJAN: Thirteen people have been killed and 45 injured in a road accident in northern Ivory Coast, after a tanker truck crashed into a bus, rescuers and local media said Saturday.
A bus carrying passengers and a petrol-filled truck on the opposite lane collided on Friday where the road’s width had been narrowed by a freight truck parked without indicators, said Police Secours, a platform monitoring deadly accidents in the country.
The vehicles crashed around 2300 GMT on the highway between Bouake and Korhogo, two large cities in northern Ivory Coast.
“The collision between the bus and the tanker set off a fire of terrifying intensity,” leaving “13 bodies charred” by the flames, Police Secours wrote.
The Ivorian Press Agency (AIP) confirmed the toll which included 19 injured children rushed to hospitals in the nearby cities of Katiola and Niakara.
Deadly accidents are frequent in the Ivory Coast due to many roads and cars in poor condition and reckless driving.
The country in 2023 introduced a point-based driver’s license granting each driver a total of 12 points that can be gradually taken away depending on the violation.
Ivorian authorities have also set up cameras on the country’s main roads to fine offenders.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 people are killed every year in road accidents in the Ivory Coast, according to the transport ministry.


Pakistani Taliban kill six soldiers in checkpoint attack

Updated 57 min 26 sec ago
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Pakistani Taliban kill six soldiers in checkpoint attack

  • Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pakistani Taliban militants stormed a security checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern border area with Afghanistan, killing six soldiers and wounding four others, a government official said Tuesday.
Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks along its border regions since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021.
It accuses Afghanistan of harboring the insurgents, a claim the Taliban government denies.
Late Monday, more than a dozen armed men attacked the checkpoint, leading to a heavy exchange of fire in Kurram, a tribal district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Six security personnel were martyred and four were injured, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” the government official posted in Kurram, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
The Pakistani Taliban group, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has long been active in the region, and claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of sheltering TTP militants and allowing them to launch cross-border attacks from there — a charge Kabul denies.
The border between the two countries has been closed since the clashes in October, though Pakistan said last week it would allow UN aid supplies to pass to Afghanistan soon.
The attack comes days after an exchange of gunfire and shelling between Afghan and Pakistani forces at a major border crossing that killed four civilians and one soldier, according to Afghanistan.
Each side accused the other of starting the fighting.