The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a knife attack on police officers in Russia’s Chechen Republic that left one serviceman killed. The two attackers were shot dead on the spot.
The group made the claim through one of its mouthpieces, Al-Naba newspaper, on Friday, Reuters reported. It has not produced any evidence in support of its involvement in the assault, the agency said.
The incident unfolded in Chechnya’s capital city, Grozny, on Monday. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov reported that two knife-wielding attackers charged at the officers patrolling traffic in the city’s downtown, killing one of the patrolmen and seriously injuring another.
The attackers were taken out by responding officers, who were reportedly stationed nearby and opened fire. Both suspects were said to hail from the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia, and had moved to Chechnya in 2012, where they worked at a bakery.
The relationship between the two neighbouring regions has been rocky at times, primarily due to a long-running territorial dispute over an administrative border, which saw Ingushetia erupt in mass protests in 2018 due to what some locals deemed an “unfair” border deal. The agreement was eventually upheld by Russia’s Constitutional Court.
Following the attack, relatives of the two men, who turned out to be brothers, demanded that Chechen authorities prove they were terrorists and to hand over their bodies, urging a release of a video of the showdown. Kadyrov held his ground, slamming the elders for making “irresponsible statements” and labelling the alleged attackers the “enemies of Allah.” On Thursday, the relatives acknowledged the apparent guilt of the two of their compatriots after reviewing CCTV footage of the incident, and extended condolences to the victims of the attack.
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December 31, 2020 at 06:19PM
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Dozens of vehicles were set ablaze across Strasbourg, France after groups of vandals flouted an 8pm curfew order, taking to the streets for a fiery New Year’s custom that’s seen hundreds of cars torched over previous holidays.
At least 30 vehicles were destroyed amid the arson on Thursday night, according to police sources cited by French daily Le Figaro.
“We are already at a certain number of burnt vehicles,” said the office of Josiane Chevalier, the prefect of the Bas-Rhin region, which contains Strasbourg, adding that several arrests were made throughout the night.
Smoldering cars, as well as those fully engulfed in flames, were seen in videos posted to social media, in some cases setting off loud blasts as the vehicles’ fuel ignited.
Warning that there would be no “concession” to vandals earlier on Thursday, Chevalier said the city “cannot afford to have the same record as last year” and that authorities had done everything in their power to curtail the car-burnings.
In 2019, some 220 cars in the city were incinerated in a relentless string of vandalism on New Year’s night.
In addition to a nationwide 8pm curfew and a number of street closures in Strasbourg, fireworks have been banned for the entire month of December, while local police set up “mobile forces” in “strategic locations” across the city, according to Annie Bregal, Bas-Rhin’s director of public security. A total of 100,000 officers and gendarmes were stationed throughout France to enforce the restrictions. Sales of fuel at the retail level have also been temporarily banned.
The measures did little to stop the rampage on Thursday night, however, with throngs of vandals hitting the streets despite the curfew and sizable law enforcement presence, which included a police helicopter, filmed shining a spotlight on the city below. The ban on fireworks also appears to have been largely ignored, as firecrackers and mortars were heard throughout the night.
👮♀️ Nouvel An 👮
Comme prévu, les forces de l’ordre sont très présentes sur l’Eurométropole de #Strasbourg et les signalements d’incidents sont déjà nombreux sur les réseaux sociaux.
Comme on le craignait, la nuit risque d’être longue et sous tension pour les forces de l’ordre. pic.twitter.com/EGdV3UdoPP
Strasbourg is not the only city to partake in the annual New Year’s arson-fest, with a record 1,457 cars burned last year in France as a whole, according to media reports. The year prior saw 1,290 vehicles torched. The destruction has become something of a yearly rite in French suburbs since 2005, when riots gripped Paris and other towns for three weeks, sending countless buildings and cars up in smoke and resulting in at least three deaths.
Three people have been injured in a reported knife attack in downtown London that sparked a massive police response. Footage from the scene shows ambulance crews and police cars at the site of the incident.
#Westminster
BREAKING: Two men and a woman have been rushed to hospital following serious violence in central-London.
Two men suffered multiple stab wounds on Edgware Road, W2, while a woman sustained a head injury.
New York’s iconic Times Square – usually the site of raucous and massive celebrations on New Year’s Eve – will be nearly deserted this year, with crowds banned from the area for the first time in over a century thanks to Covid-19.
A first in the 116-year history of the traditional ‘ball drop,’ Times Square will be closed to spectators as the city rings in the New Year, an event that’s previously drawn crowds in excess of 1 million. Instead, revelers will have to watch the show from afar via live broadcast, in what the Times Square Alliance, the organizer behind the annual New Year’s bash, said would be a “virtually enhanced, visually compelling” but “very different” celebration compared to years past.
City authorities have been adamant that the typically jam-packed gathering is off the table as the coronavirus pandemic drags into 2021. During a Wednesday press conference, NYPD Chief Terence Monahan was emphatic that residents and tourists must keep away from the venue.
“My message to those ringing in the New Year please stay at home,” Monahan said. “There are absolutely no spectators allowed in Times Square. There are no public fireworks in Coney Island and there is no midnight run in Central Park.”
Don’t even attempt to come down there and watch it… Anyone that starts to gather, they’re going to be told to move along. We are not going to allow people to stand on the street corner and stare up.
This #NewYearsEve will be unlike any in the past due to COVID-19. Please take note of these street closures that will be in place in the days leading up to the ball drop, and know that there will be no pedestrians or spectators allowed in Times Square this year. pic.twitter.com/Pbom4vA5uf
Though the square will prohibit visitors, the streets won’t be entirely vacant, with a number of live performances scheduled for broadcast on TV, headlined by R&B singer Andra Day and featuring artists Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull and Machine Gun Kelly, among others.
In addition to the musical acts, the Times Square Alliance will also host a small number of guests for a socially-distanced “Heroes of 2020” event, inviting 39 individuals who represent “a sampling of first responders, frontline workers, researchers, artists and activists who sacrificed in 2020 to provide care and support for their communities.”
A once-in-a-century occurrence, the ban on crowds was met with disappointment by many, as netizens shared photos of a desolate Times Square on Thursday evening, some deeming the sight “surreal” and “like something out of an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone.’”
This is stunning. Normally by now Times Square is crowded, some people having spent the night for a good spot, even lining up the day before. Now, empty as it gets. https://t.co/aT2IgzjGwQ
Others took the hit in stride, poking fun at the otherwise gloomy situation. One commenter suggested the square’s live audience ought to be replaced with “cardboard cutouts,” apparently taking inspiration from the “cardboard fans” employed by sports leagues in the US and beyond.
Times Square is supposed to be empty this year. They should fill the place with cardboard cutouts. Although the entire “SNL” crew and the cast of “Hamilton” may be there because @NYGovCuomo gives gives them special privileges.
New Year’s gatherings at Times Square stretch back more than 100 years, to the early 20th century. Though the square has drawn crowds and fireworks since as early as 1904, the famous ‘ball drop’ didn’t begin until several years later, in 1907. The event has continued annually ever since, enduring calamities ranging from both World Wars to the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak – though some years have been more subdued than others.
While the square will be virtually unoccupied as the clock strikes midnight and brings an eagerly awaited end to 2020, viewers can still tune into the festivities and performances through a livestream hosted by the Times Square Alliance.
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December 31, 2020 at 03:17PM
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