Burst dam sweeps away dozens in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya -- At least 44 were dead and another 40 were missing Thursday after a dam swollen by weeks of seasonal rains burst in Kenya's Rift Valley, sweeping away hundreds of homes and sending people fleeing, officials said.
At least 20 of the dead were children.
"Many people are missing. It is a disaster," said Rongai town Police Chief Joseph Kioko.
The bursting of the Patel Dam in Solai, Nakuru County, on Wednesday night was the deadliest single incident yet in the seasonal rains that have killed more than 170 people in Kenya since March. The floods hit as the East African nation was recovering from a severe drought that affected half of the country.
Almost an entire village was swept away by silt and water from the burst dam, said Gideon Kibunja, the county police chief in charge of criminal investigations. Officials said homes over a radius of nearly 1.2 miles were submerged.
Forty people have been reported missing, Regional Commissioner Mwongo Chimwanga said, while about 40 others were rescued from the mud and taken to local hospitals.
5 ISIS leaders captured at Iraq border
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi forces in coordination with U.S.-backed Syrian forces have captured five senior Islamic State group leaders, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday in a statement.
The arrest was a "significant blow to Daesh," coalition spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon said, using the Arabic acronym for the extremist group.
Islamic State fighters no longer control significant pockets of territory inside Iraq but do maintain a grip inside Syria along Iraq's border.
The U.S.-led coalition supported Iraqi ground forces and Syrian fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces in the more than three-year war against the Islamic State.
After Iraqi forces retook the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State last summer, Syrian forces on the other side of the border claimed a series of swift victories, but the campaign was stalled recently when Turkey launched a cross-border raid into Syria's north.
Earlier this month the coalition announced a drive to clear the final pockets of Islamic State territory inside Syria.
Jail riot ends with prisoners' surrender
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Dozens of Islamic militant prisoners who took over a police detention center near Indonesia's capital and killed five officers surrendered to police Thursday, the country's top security minister said.
The riot broke out late Tuesday at the headquarters of the elite Mobile Brigade police in Depok, on Jakarta's southern outskirts, where four days earlier authorities arrested three militants they accuse of planning to attack police.
Most of the prisoners surrendered before dawn Thursday after an ultimatum from security personnel, said Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Wiranto, who goes by one name. About 10 inmates refused to give up but shortly were subdued when police fired smoke bombs and tear gas.
He said those involved were "detained terrorists."
Earlier, Deputy National Police Chief Muhammad Syafruddin said all 155 inmates were involved in the riot. He said they took nine officers hostage and killed five of them, while another four were tortured. The last hostage, a chief sergeant, was released just after midnight in exchange for food.
One inmate was killed, police said.
2 officials held, said to target journalist
MEXICO CITY -- A police officer and a judge were detained in southeastern Mexico, accused of jailing and trying to prosecute a journalist without evidence and in retaliation for his reporting, authorities announced Thursday.
Journalist Pedro Canche was arrested after covering a protest in the city of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, in the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo. He was held from August 2014 until May 2015 on accusations of "sabotage in prejudice of society."
He had published stories critical of government authorities, and prosecutors said the warrant for his arrest came "as a retaliation for his journalistic activity."
The federal prosecutor's office said in a statement that neither the investigative officer nor the judge had "any evidence whatsoever" to support a prosecution.
"It is very rare in Mexico for a journalist to get justice, but when the will is there, it can happen," he said.
A Section on 05/11/2018