Islamic terrorists attacked the mosque at a Pakistani Air Base near Peshawar, leaving at least 29 people dead.
Pakistani Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa told reporters that at least 13 of the terrorists were killed in the assault. One of those killed by the terrorists was an Army captain.
“We were offering prayers when we first heard the gunshots and then, within no time, they entered the mosque where they began indiscriminately firing,” Mohammad Ikram of the Pakistani Air Force told Reuters by telephone from a hospital bed where he was being treated for gunshot wounds.
“They killed and injured most of the worshippers. I fell on the ground. Then the gunmen went to other places in the base. After a long time, we were shifted to the hospital.”
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack by releasing a statement and video showing Omar Mansoor, the terrorist commander who planned the massacre at a Peshawar school in December, waving goodbye to the terrorists who carried out the attack.
The base was established in the 1950s by the United States as an outpost to monitor communications by the Soviet Union.
At least 8 people are dead and a million people have been displaced because of a massive magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Chile.
Violent aftershocks continue to shake the ground around Santiago and surrounding towns. Residents were preparing for the possibility of a second strong quake although the tsunami warnings have ended for the region.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says the quake struck around 6:45 p.m., 29 miles west of the capital in a small city of Illapel. The USGS reported the quake was the strongest to hit the region in 100 years.
Aftershocks of 6.3 and 6.4 have been recorded by the USGS. A tsunami watch was issued for both California and Hawaii because of the quakes, although they were later retracted. Residents are still being warned to watch for high waves and significant rip tides.
Chile is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because of two major plates connecting just off the coastline. The strongest recorded quake in world history took place in the nation in 1960, magnitude 9.5.
The death toll in Utah’s flash flooding has reached 17.
Officials say that 12 of the dead were from two families that had packed into vehicles and drove to watch the water. A wall of water apparently smashed into them and threw them into the rushing flow.
Officials admitted that two of the victims from the cars were found all the way into Arizona.
Three people were rescued and according to the Associated Press they were all children.
Hildale, Utah mayor Phillip Barlow called the event a “100 year flood” and that it was a “wake-up call” for the town.
Resident of Hildale told reporters that what happened with the vehicles full of families is not uncommon for the area. They said that downpours were something of a community event and people would come out to watch.
Officials also said the search for missing people continues and have urged people not to come to the area.
“This is going to be a heartbreaking night,” the Utah Division of Emergency Management said in a statement Monday night. “Our prayers are with the search and rescue teams and those families who are aching for their loved ones.”
As if firefighters weren’t already having enough trouble trying to stop a deadly wildfire that has roared through parts of Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties in California, now they have to deal with earthquakes.
A magnitude 3.2 quake struck in Lake County early Tuesday morning. The quake caused no significant damage to buildings in the region already threatened by the massive fire.
Officials said that the fires have claimed the life of one woman and has left four firefighters hospitalized. Over 11,000 firefighters are now on the scene of a dozen wildfires in the state.
Cal Fire said the Valley fire that killed a woman had destroyed 585 homes and hundreds of other buildings. The fire that began Saturday also caused a number of propane tanks to explode in the town of Middletown.
“This was a very destructive fire,” Cal Fire public information officer Daniel Berlant said Tuesday.
That fire burned 67,200 acres near Sacramento. Another fire in the same area burned 71,780 acres and was only 40 percent contained.
Light rain has been helping fight some of the flames. However, the rain has also caused problems with flooding in other areas.
Los Angeles received over an inch and a half of rain in a downpour which caused the Los Angeles River to flood. Several people had to be rescued from the rushing water.
A flash flood that washed through a town on the Utah/Arizona border has left 8 people confirmed dead and others missing.
All of the victims are mothers and small children who reportedly were sitting in cars watching the rushing waters.
The flooding roared through the streets of Hildale, Utah to Colorado City, Arizona. Heavy rains started Monday night in mountains around the town causing the water to rush into canyons and valleys.
“It happened within like a half-hour, 45 minutes,” Chris Wyler told CNN. “(Then) it was just gone. And then the sun was shining again.”
The two vehicles that contained those who died had 16 people within them. Many were thrown from the vehicles by the force of the water.
Rescuers were forced to call off rescue efforts because of dangerous conditions overnight but resumed work with heavy equipment during the morning.
The collapse of a crane at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 9/11 is being called an “act of God” by local officials and engineers.
The crane, owned by the Bin Laden family, collapsed Friday killing 107 people just before the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Hundreds were left severely wounded by the collapse.
Witnesses said the giant polished white floor of the mosque turned red from the blood of all the victims.
The Saudi Arabia civil defense directorate said that a rainstorm with very high winds swept into the city on 9/11 and toppled the giant red and white crane. The crane then fell into the court of the mosque.
The Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) reported the project had been on that site for almost four years without any problems taking place.
“It was not a technical issue at all. I can only say that what happened was beyond the power of humans. It was an act of God and, to my knowledge, there was no human fault in it at all,” an engineer for SBG told reporters.
He said the crane’s heavy hook began to swing in the storm and then caused the collapse.
Japanese officials reported that three people have been confirmed dead in massive flooding that drove over 170,000 people from their homes.
Officials say that one woman was found dead in her floating car in Miyagi Prefecture. Two deaths took place in Tochigi Prefecture, one from a landslide and the other from drowning.
The flooding caused by remnants of Tropical Storm Etau has caused nearly 30 injuries and 22 people are still listed as missing. At least 180 people were still waiting for rescue from the stricken city of Joso, inundated with flood waters after the Kinugawa River jumped its banks.
The storm dumped more than 2 feet of rain in some areas. Residents have reported over 6,500 homes have been flooded.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has raised the flood warning level for both the Yoshida river in Miyagi Prefecture and the Mogamiogumi River in Yamagata Prefecture to “level 5”, the highest possible. Residents have been told to flee the area.
The city of Sendai, with more than 400,000 residents, has been told to prepare for evacuation.
The areas hit by the flood waters are in the path of another storm that could bring another four inches of rain over the next 36 hours.
Sierra Leone officials confirmed to world news outlets the death of a 67-year-old woman from Ebola and the quarantine of the entire village where she was living.
“Over 970 people are being monitored under quarantine as there is information that they had had some contact with the deceased woman who tested positive after her death,” the district Ebola response office said in a report distributed to reporters.
“From those under quarantine, 48 are considered as high risk and they are in various holding centers in the district and not treatment centers, as none of them have exhibited any signs and symptoms of Ebola.”
Local officials say that the woman lived in the village of Sella Kafta and was sick for 10 days without any officials being alerted to her symptoms.
Without any further victims of the disease, the quarantine will last three weeks.
A BBC correspondent on the ground the Sierra Leone said the government is using a stricter quarantine than in previous cases. Residents are being prohibited from moving from house to house.
Soldiers and police are surrounding the town and allowing no one but authorized government officials and health workers to enter or leave the area.
Illinois officials have confirmed another death from Legionnaires’ disease in the same town where seven elderly veterans have died.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says the latest victim was elderly with other health issues like the seven veterans who died from the disease. However, this woman was not in the care of the facility, just in the same town as the veteran’s home, Quincy.
Four other people are now confirmed to have been infected with Legionnaires’ who are not connected to the veteran’s home.
Illinois state public health director Dr. Nirav Shah said it’s possible more deaths will take place because of the two week incubation period of the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control rushed to the veteran’s home to help local officials deal with the outbreak and remain on site to assist the state in finding the source of the outbreak.
“[State officials] do not believe there is an increased risk of Legionnaires’ disease to the Quincy community,” Dr. Shah told reporters despite the new death and illnesses away from the veteran’s home.
Officials have also told residents of the area who are elderly or sick to avoid the veteran’s home.
A suicide bomber who was claimed by ISIS and a car bomb have killed 20 people in Yemen’s capital city.
The suicide bomber detonated at the mosque in Sanaa during the evening call to prayer. The car bomb exploded outside the entrance of the mosque as the victims of the first bombing were being carried outside to emergency personnel.
A message on social media from ISIS claimed the attacks.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since a rebel group loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh captured the capital city. The rebels have been the subject of Saudi Arabian led and U.S. backed air strikes.
The violence is also starting to be aimed at relief workers and those trying to help the victimized civilian population.
Two Red Cross members were gunned down in the Yemeni province of Amran by an attacker on Wednesday.
“Two of our colleagues were shot and killed in their car …as they were traveling back from Saada to Sanaa,” spokesman Adnan Hizam said from the Yemeni capital.
The Red Cross had stopped work in the southern city of Aden after gunmen stormed their offices.
