SYDNEY: Australian police battled severe alpine weather on Saturday on the fifth day of a search for a gunman who escaped into dense bush after allegedly shooting dead two officers and injuring another at a rural property in Victoria state.
Hundreds of officers were in the field searching for 56-year-old Dezi Freeman, previously known as Desmond Filby, who is believed to have expert bushcraft skills and multiple powerful firearms, a police spokesperson said.
The search area includes the town of Porepunkah, about 300 kilometers northeast of Melbourne, where Freeman is alleged to have fired on police on Tuesday, before fleeing on foot into the bush.
Bureau of Meteorologist senior forecaster Jonathan How said a severe weather warning was current for the region, which was experiencing challenging conditions of cold, wind and snow.
A very cold night was on the way for the area, including possible black ice on roads, How said. A minimum temperature of 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) was forecast on Sunday for Porepunkah, according to the weather bureau.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan visited nearby Wangaratta police station on Friday to pay tribute to the two slain officers, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, amid what she said was the “huge operation” by authorities to catch Freeman.
“Their loss won’t be forgotten. With honor they served,” Allan said of the officers on social media platform X.
Freeman is alleged to have fired on a team of 10 police officers, including members of the sexual offenses and child investigation team, when they arrived at his Porepunkah property to execute a search warrant.
Australian media have reported that police believe Freeman is a “sovereign citizen” who regards the government is illegitimate.
Search for Australian gunman enters fifth day as weather closes in
https://arab.news/zmyct
Search for Australian gunman enters fifth day as weather closes in
- Dezi Freeman, previously known as Desmond Filby, is believed to have expert bushcraft skills and multiple powerful firearms
- Australian media have reported that police believe Freeman is a “sovereign citizen” who regards the government is illegitimate
Left homeless by blaze, Muslims in southernmost Philippines observe Ramadan as month of trial
- Thousands lost their homes when parts of Bongao in Tawi-Tawi were burnt to ashes
- Many trying to fully observe the fasting month say they are grateful to be alive
Manila: As Annalexis Abdulla Dabbang was looking forward to observing the month of Ramadan with her family, just days before it began they lost everything when an enormous fire tore through whole neighborhoods of their city in the southernmost province of the Philippines.
Bongao is the capital of Tawi-Tawi, an island province, forming part of the country’s Muslim minority heartland in the Bangsamoro region. The city experienced its worst fire in years in early February, when flames swept through the coastal community, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless.
“We were swimming for our lives. We had to swim to escape from the fire ... We swam in darkness, and (even) the sea was already hot because of the fire,” Dabbang, a 27-year-old teacher, told Arab News.
“Everything we owned was gone in just a few hours — our home, our memories, the things we worked hard for, everything turned to ashes.”
Trying to save their 2-year-old daughter and themselves, she and her husband left everything behind — as did hundreds of other families that together with them have since taken shelter at the Mindanao State University gymnasium — one of the evacuation centers.
Unable to secure a tent, Dabbang’s family has been sleeping on the bleachers, sharing a single mat as their bed. When Ramadan arrived a few days after they moved to the makeshift shelter, they welcomed it in a different, more solemn way. There is no family privacy for suhoor, no room or means to welcome guests for iftar.
“Ramadan feels different now. It’s painful but at the same time more real. When we lost our home, we began to understand what sacrifice really means. When you sleep in an evacuation center, you understand hunger, discomfort in a deeper way,” Dabbang said.
“We don’t prepare special dishes. We prepare our hearts.”
While she and thousands of others have lost everything they have ever owned, she has not lost her faith.
“Our dreams may have turned to ashes, but our prayers are still alive,” she said.
“This Ramadan my prayers are more emotional than ever. I pray for strength, not just for myself, but for my family and for every neighbor who also lost their family home. I pray for healing from the trauma of fire. I pray that Allah will replace what we lost with something better. I pray for the chance to rebuild not just our house, but our sense of security.”
Juraij Dayan Hussin, a volunteer helping the Bongao fire victims, observed that many of them were traumatized and the need to cleanse the heart and mind during Ramadan was what kept many of them going, because they are “thankful that even though they lost their property, they are still alive.”
But the religious observance related to the fasting month is not easy in a cramped shelter.
“It’s hard for Muslims to perform their prayers when they do not have their proper attire because they usually have specific clothes for prayer,” he said. “Sanitation in the area is also an issue ... when you fast and when you pray, cleanliness is essential.”
For Abdulkail Jani, who is staying at a basketball court with his brother and more than 70 other families, this Ramadan will be spent apart from their parents, whom they managed to move to relatives.
“The month of Ramadan this year is a month of trial ... there will be a huge change from how we observed Ramadan in the past, but we will adjust to it and try to comfort ourselves and our family. The most important thing is that we can perform the fasting,” he told Arab News.
“Despite our situation now, despite everything, as long as we’re alive, we will observe Ramadan. We’ll try to observe it well, without missing anything.”
