MILAN -- A tanker truck carrying flammable material exploded Monday after rear-ending a stopped truck on a crowded highway near the northern Italian city of Bologna, killing at least two people, injuring up to 70 others and causing part of the raised expressway to collapse.
Italian police said between 60 and 70 people were injured, some with severe burns, during the midday accident on the highway north of the city. The paramilitary police said some officers were injured by flying glass when the explosion burst windows in a nearby barracks.
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the truck was carrying liquefied petroleum gas but that officials said they could not confirm that.
A police video showed the tanker failing to brake and plowing into the rear of a truck stopped in traffic, with flames exploding on impact. Another truck appeared to hit the tanker from behind. After an unspecified time lapse, during which the highway was cleared of most other vehicles, there was a second explosion, which spanned eight lanes of the highway and beyond.
Flames shot up into the air, followed by a thick black cloud of smoke. Aerial photos showed a gaping hole left in the raised highway.
The Italian television Sky TG24 said flames from the explosion set off secondary blasts in a new-car lot below.
Pakistan starts polio vaccination drive
ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani health official said authorities have launched a weeklong anti-polio campaign touted as a final push against the crippling disease.
Its aim is to vaccinate millions of children under 5 years of age.
Dr. Rana Safdar, the campaign's national coordinator, said the campaign was launched Monday amid tight security in 89 districts and towns with a total of 110,000 health workers who will fan out to vaccinate 19.2 million children.
He said the campaign will last four days in some areas.
Polio is still endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
But with just three cases reported this year, Pakistan is close to eradicating the disease.
Pakistan regularly carries out anti-polio drives despite threats from the Taliban, who claim the campaign is a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Bangladesh probes attack on U.S. envoy
Authorities in Bangladesh said Monday that they are investigating a weekend attack on a car carrying U.S. Ambassador Marcia Bernicat. The U.S. Embassy said the incident was not connected to ongoing protests in the country over road safety.
Armed men on motorcycles targeted Bernicat's car in the residential Mohammadpur area of Dhaka on Saturday after she was returning from a dinner party at the home of a prominent social activist, the embassy confirmed. The ambassador escaped unharmed.
According to the Dhaka Tribune, the attackers chased and threw small bricks at the embassy motorcade.
"There were no injuries to the Ambassador, her drivers, or security staff; however, two security vehicles sustained some damage," according to an embassy statement.
An embassy spokesman emphasized that the attack was unrelated to ongoing student-led protests in Dhaka over road safety but did not give further information about a possible motive.
Over the past few days, students aggrieved at the abysmal state of traffic management in Dhaka have blocked roads, inspected driver's licenses at checkpoints and stopped drivers to inform them of road rules. But over the weekend, the protests turned violent -- vehicles were set ablaze and police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at crowds of chanting students in some parts of the city.
More than 40 people were injured Monday in continuing unrest.
Serbia slams Israel after Croatia event
BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia denounced Israel on Monday because its military jets and envoys took part in a ceremony in Croatia marking a victorious 1995 offensive against rebel Serb-held territories.
Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told a private Belgrade television station that "it's sad that an Israeli flag flew yesterday at the celebration of that criminal action." He added that "we are very disappointed."
He said it is "immoral" that Israel took part in the commemoration when tens of thousands of Jews, as well as Serbs and Gypsies, perished in Croatian Nazi-run death camps during World War II.
Serbia considers Israel its close ally with a common history of suffering of their peoples during the war.
Three Israeli air force F-16s took part in a flyby during Sunday's ceremony marking the anniversary of the operation that restored Croatia's control over land held by rebel Serbs during the 1991-95 war.
A statement from the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade said that the participation of Israeli jets was related "solely" to the announced purchase of 12 Israeli F-16s by Croatia.
"This has no political elements or any connection to the historic relations between Serbia and Croatia," the statement said. "The solid friendship that exists between Israel and Serbia will never be jeopardized in any way."
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 08/07/2018