Afghanistan: US investigates civilian deaths in Kabul strike

A US drone strike targeting a suicide bomber ended up killing 10 members of one family, including six children, surviving relatives have told the BBC.

The 10 were killed when a car parked at their home was struck by an explosion on Sunday.

The US military said a vehicle carrying at least one person associated with the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group was targeted.

It said people nearby may have been hit in the aftermath of the strike.

Some of those killed had previously worked for international organisations and held visas allowing them entry to the US, the BBC has been told.

The youngest child to be killed was two-year-old Sumaya, and the oldest child was 12-year-old Farzad.

“It’s wrong, it’s a brutal attack, and it’s happened based on wrong information,” Ramin Yousufi, a relative of the victims, told the BBC.

He added, tearfully: “Why have they killed our family? Our children? They are so burned out we cannot identify their bodies, their faces.”

Another relative, Emal Ahmadi, told the BBC that it was his two-year-old daughter who was killed in the strike.

Mr Ahmadi said he and others in the family had applied for evacuation to the US, and had been waiting for a phone call telling them to go to the airport.

That included one of his relatives, Ahmad Naser, who was killed in the strike and had previously worked as a translator with US forces.

The US, he added, had made “a mistake, it was a big mistake”.

image caption The aftermath of the drone strike in the Afghan capital, Kabul

US Central Command has said they are investigating reports of the incident, but are unclear how the 10 died.

In a statement, it said there had been a number of “substantial and powerful subsequent explosions” following the drone strike.

It said the explosions suggested there had been “a large amount of explosive material inside, that may have caused additional casualties”.

Central Command had previously said the strike was successful at “eliminating an imminent” threat to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International airport from IS-K (Islamic State Khorasan Province), IS’s Afghan affiliate.

The last day of August will mark the end of what some describe as the end of US-led military engagement in Afghanistan, but the Taliban will proclaim it as the end of foreign occupation. On 1 September, Afghans will wake up and wait to see what this new chapter brings.

With every chapter in this 40-year war, Afghans dared to hope that the next chapter would be better than the last. I can say that of all the chapters I’ve witnessed over the last three decades, this is the most uncertain chapter yet.

The Taliban are promising to rule for all Afghans. They’re promising to give Afghans the best education system in the world, to meet all of their needs. It’s a huge challenge to move from an insurgency to governing again. The world will be watching – but watching most closely of all will be Afghans, wondering and hoping against hope that they will have a life they can call their own, in a country they still feel a sense of belonging to.

Afghans tend to say they hold on to hope because it’s the last thing they lose.

For the thousands who left, some of the best and brightest of this generation, who were educated, trained and prepared during this window of space provided by 20 years of international engagement – they have now not just left their country, they have lost their country.

They have lost their dreams, their hopes, everything they built up in the past 20 years. And it will be so, so painful for such a long time to come.

The US has been on high alert since a suicide bomber killed more than 100 civilians and 13 US troops outside the airport last Thursday. IS-K claimed responsibility.

Many of those killed had been hoping to board one of the evacuation flights leaving the city, which fell to the Taliban on 15 August.

The US had repeatedly warned of an increase in attacks as 31 August – the date set for the Americans’ withdrawal from Afghanistan – drew closer.

On Monday, a US anti-missile system intercepted rockets flying over the capital towards the airport, an official told Reuters news agency.

Video and pictures carried by local news outlets showed smoke wafting across the rooftops of Kabul, and what appeared to be a burning car on a street.

The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the rocket attack.

“The President was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA (Kabul airport), and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

No US or Afghan casualties have been reported so far from Monday’s incident.

The United States has installed an anti-rocket and mortar system to protect the airport from further attacks.

media captionWatch: Bodies of US troops returned to America

Later on Monday, British ministers and officials will be taking part in a number of international meetings aimed at defining a joint approach to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will hold talks with his counterparts from the G7 group of wealthy countries, as well as Nato and Qatar.

At the United Nations in New York, France and Britain are expected to propose a Security Council resolution calling for a safe zone in Kabul to protect people trying to leave the country.

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Afghanistan: Pen Farthing sorry for foul-mouthed message to aide

A former Royal Marine said his emotions “got the better” of him when he left an expletive-laden message for a government aide as he tried to get his staff and animals out of Afghanistan.

Paul “Pen” Farthing arrived in the UK on a private charter flight on Sunday with some 150 animals from his rescue shelter in Kabul.

He said he had spent weeks campaigning to get his employees and animals out.

“I was at the lowest point I could possibly be,” he said.

Mr Farthing, from Essex, landed at Heathrow Airport having previously been caught up in Thursday’s Kabul airport bomb blasts.

His animal rescue charity Nowzad confirmed his 68 staff remained in Kabul and said its focus was to get them out of the country.

Mr Farthing said: “Whilst those vulnerable staff, mostly young women, remain in danger in Afghanistan, we shall not rest.”

In a statement Mr Farthing thanked the Home Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office and the Ministry of Defence for its support.

On Saturday, The Times reported it had a recording of Mr Farthing berating a special adviser to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace in which he accused him of “blocking” efforts to arrange an evacuation flight.

Earlier, Mr Farthing told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m incredibly embarrassed about my language, I do apologise to everybody who’s listened to that.

“I was at the lowest point I could possibly be. I understand how the world works but emotions got the better of me, so for all those who had to listen to that I do apologise for my language.

“I should not have said it like that, but the sentiment, yes, I was just incredibly upset, angry, frustrated, it was the lowest point.

“So that’s why you’ve probably heard some colourful language.”

The ex-marine’s Operation Ark campaign became hugely topical on social media, but Mr Wallace had complained it was distracting from the evacuation of people most at threat from the Taliban.

Mr Wallace previously said Ministry of Defence staff had faced abuse from Mr Farthing’s supporters.

He has also said the charity’s supporters had “taken up too much time of my senior commanders dealing with this issue when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis”.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly also said on Monday that the government had prioritised the evacuation of people over pets.

“Mr Farthing is a British national, he had the opportunity to leave Afghanistan much earlier. His staff are enrolled on to the scheme by which Afghans that worked with the British were able to be evacuated,” he told LBC Radio.

“As I have said, we have always prioritised the evacuation of people.”

But speaking to the radio station on Saturday, Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said: “The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport and we’ve just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs, meanwhile my interpreter’s family are likely to be killed.

“As one interpreter asked me a few days ago ‘why is my five-year-old worth less than your dog?’,” the Conservative MP added.

Mr Farthing also dismissed claims that he was helped into Kabul airport by the UK government.

“I did that with the Taliban,” he said. “Nobody facilitated my entry… any interpreters or anybody else, there was me and the truck full of dogs and cats.”

Mr Farthing added he was the only person on the flight but he was told there was “enough capacity” to get the remaining people in the airport out.

“I was probably like the last person to enter that airport – it was closed,” he said.

“Americans, the British, had obviously stopped taking people in because there had to be a point where they stopped taking people in.

“So they assured me they had enough capacity for everybody who was inside the airport.”

Dr Iain McGill, was a vet on the plane back to the UK with Mr Farthing.

“The animals, considering what they’ve been through, are in very good shape on the whole. As you can imagine they’re not short of homes for these animals,” he told the BBC.

Five cats died in the transfer process, he said.

Mr Farthing set up the animal shelter in Kabul, rescuing dogs, cats and donkeys, after serving in Afghanistan in the mid-2000s.

image caption Members of the British armed forces have been returning from Afghanistan

The final British flight left Afghanistan on Saturday, bringing to an end the UK’s 20-year military involvement in the country.

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Brazil bank robbers tie hostages to getaway cars in Araçatuba

Bank robbers strapped hostages to the top of their getaway vehicles after a raid in the southern Brazilian city of Araçatuba.

Police said that at least three people were killed, among them one suspect.

Officials said more than 20 people took part in the heist, blocking off roads with burning vehicles and placing explosive devices across the city.

Large-scale bank robberies have become more frequent in recent years, with hostages used as human shields.

Initial reports had put the number of assailants at more than 50 but that number has since been revised down to between 15 and 20.

Lieutenant Alexandre Guedes of the Military Police told GloboNews that one man was killed by the gang when they found him filming them.

A woman and a suspect were killed in a stand-off with police outside the city as gang members tried to make their escape, officials said.

A 25-year old cyclist was seriously injured when one of the explosive devices planted by the gang went off as he cycled past.

He was taken to hospital, where both of his feet had to be amputated, local media reported.

Three other men are in hospital with bullet wounds.

Lt Guedes said there were still at least 14 bombs across the city and that the first indication was that they had some sort of sensor, which is triggered either by heat or motion.

Schools will remain closed on Monday and residents have been urged to stay indoors until all the devices have been dismantled.

Police said three suspects had been arrested.

How did the robbery unfold?

A gang of heavily armed men attacked three banks in the centre of Araçatuba in the early hours of Monday local time.

After the robbery, the gang took a number of hostages and surrounded the local military police station. Gang members also blocked key access roads into the city by setting cars alight, local media reported.

Record TV journalist Yuri Macri posted video he said showed two of the getaway cars. The first has a person tied to its roof and another to its hood, while in the second, a person can be seen crouching on the hood.

CCTV footage posted by another Twitter user shows multiple cars driving through the city, some with people tied to the hoods, while another person can be seen holding up his hands while standing up through the van’s sun roof.

Many residents reported hearing gunfire and even the sound of explosions.

The mayor of Araçatuba, Dilador Borges, said police had struggled to intervene as the attack unfolded.

“The police can’t go on the attack, they can’t confront them because there are too many lives on the line,” he told Band TV.

He said he did not know if the robbers had freed the hostages yet but said the security forces had retaken control of the city centre.

It is not clear how much money the attackers took but some videos purport to show a resident gathering bank notes in the street.

News site G1 reports that the gang used drones to monitor the movements of the police from the air.

It is not the first time Araçatuba has been targeted by bank robbers. In 2017, criminals took control of various strategic spots throughout the city, attacked police stations and blocked roads as part of their robbery of a private security firm.

Raid is part of a growing trend

These well-planned robberies are part of a phenomenon Brazilians call New “Cangaço”, referring to a term first used to describe the banditry that plagued parts of Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s.

Small and medium-sized cities have been the preferred targets.

According to security expert Guaracy Mingardi these large-scale robberies started becoming more frequent around 2015. The targets are banks and firms that store and transport valuables.

Dozens of criminals take part in a single raid, many of them heavily armed with machine guns and sometimes explosives.

While most of the raids have been carried out in Brazil, there has been at least one instance where a Brazilian gang carried out a spectacular robbery in neighbouring Paraguay.

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Ed Asner: Lou Grant and Up actor dies aged 91

Ed Asner, best-known for playing fictional TV newsman Lou Grant, has died aged 91.

The actor, whose roles also included voicing the lead in the Pixar film Up, passed away “peacefully” on Sunday morning, his family said.

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head – goodnight dad. We love you.”

The character Lou Grant was first introduced as Mary Richards’s boss on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who worked on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was among those who paid tribute to Asner on Twitter.

“A great man…a great actor… a great life. Thank you Mr. Asner. #RIP,” Hamill said.

Comedy actor Ben Stiller added: “Sending love to the great Ed Asner’s family. An icon because he was such a beautiful, funny and totally honest actor. No one like him.”

image captionEd Asner (L), Ted Knight and Mary Tyler Moore

The character of Lou Grant, the irascible editor of the fictional Los Angeles Tribune, later became a character in a show in his own right from 1977 to 1982.

The role helped earn Asner seven Emmy awards across his career, a record for a male performer.

In 2009, he became known to a new generation of audiences by playing elderly widower Carl Fredricksen in the animated hit Up.

He also played Santa Claus in the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy Elf.

Documentary film-maker Michael Moore shared an anecdote about his first interaction with Asner in his tribute to the late actor on Twitter.

The Muppets also paid tribute on Twitter.

Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon called Asner a “legend”.

Actor William Baldwin called Asner “one of the greats in show bizz history”.

During his acting career, Asner was an outspoken supporter of a number of humanitarian and political causes, including trade unionism and animal rights.

He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1981 to 1985, and was honoured in 2000 with the union’s prestigious Ralph Morgan Award.

Asner was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1929, and began acting at school.

After serving two years in France in the US Army Signal Corps, Asner returned to theatre work in Chicago.

In 1955 he made his Broadway debut with Jack Lemmon in Face of A Hero, then performed with the American and New York Shakespeare festivals and appeared in numerous off-Broadway shows.

Asner moved to Hollywood in 1961 and began his acclaimed career in television and film.

He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1996.

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UK 33,196 reportsnew daily coronavirus cases and another 61 deaths

More than 48 million people have now had a first dose of COVID vaccine in the UK, while more than 42.6 million are fully protected. It comes as people wait to hear whether they'll be called forward for a booster shot from next month.

The UK has recorded another 33,196 coronavirus cases and 61 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.

The figures compare with 32,406 COVID-19 cases and 133 deaths reported on Saturday, and 31,914 new cases and 49 deaths this time last week.

Another 132,180 people received a second coronavirus vaccine dose yesterday, taking the total number of those over 16 who are now fully inoculated to 42,639,781.

And 42,388 were given their first dose – taking the total to 48,001,316.

The UK government said it plans to give booster COVID-19 jabs, alongside flu jabs, to the most vulnerable groups from 6 September.

As yet, no specific details on the programme have been announced.

Elsewhere, Israel announced they would be offering a COVID-19 booster shot to anyone over the age of 12 who has been fully vaccinated.

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“Starting today, the third vaccine dose is open to all,” health ministry director general Nachman Ash said on Sunday, referring to the Pfizer vaccine which is in use there.

President Joe Biden has also expressed an interest in moving up a booster programme for the US.

On Friday, he said regulators are looking at giving booster jabs five months after people finish their primary vaccinations, shortening the current planned timetable of an eight-month gap.

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Mr Biden, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday, said health officials were considering following that country’s lead on boosters when the programme starts on 20 September, pending regulatory approval.

“We’re considering the advice you’ve given that we should start earlier,” Mr Biden said.

A handful of European countries, including France and Germany, have already announced plans to give elderly people booster jabs.

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