2 people arrested after fatal India fire
NEW DELHI -- Police arrested two owners of a company that manufactures and sells security cameras after a fire reportedly started in their office in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing 27 people and injuring 12 others, police and fire officials said Saturday.
Police registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and a criminal conspiracy that is punishable with life imprisonment or 10 years in jail.
The building had no clearance from the fire department and it was not equipped with fire safety equipment like extinguishers, said Atul Garg, director of Delhi Fire Services.
Garg said the fire started on the first floor of the building Friday evening and spread quickly to other areas where inflammable plastic material used to manufacture equipment, including security cameras, and a large quantity of cardboard used for packaging were stored.
All 27 bodies were recovered from the second floor, where people attending a motivational meeting were engulfed in the fire, Garg said.
Only five victims have been identified so far because badly charred bodies were making identification difficult, he said, adding that the rescue work was over.
At least 50 people were rescued from the building, which contains mainly shops, the fire control room said.
Extremists claim deadly Sinai attack
CAIRO -- An Islamic State affiliate in Egypt on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least five troops in the restive part of Sinai Peninsula.
The extremist group announced its claim of Wednesday's attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified but it was released on Telegram, as similar claims have been in the past.
The attack involved a militant ambush against a border guard checkpoint west of the Mediterranean city of Rafah, which borders the Gaza Strip.
The military said at least five troops, including an officer, were killed in the attack. At least seven militants were also killed, it said.
Last Saturday, at least 11 troops were killed, in one of the deadliest attacks on Egyptian security forces in recent years.
The Islamic State group also claimed that attack, which took place in the town of Qantara in the province of Ismailia, which stretches eastward from the Suez Canal.
Death reported in Iran unrest over prices
TEHRAN, Iran -- An Iranian lawmaker says one person was killed in his city during recent unrest over price increases in the southwestern Khuzestan province, semiofficial ILNA news agency reported Saturday.
Ahmad Avaei, a member of parliament from Dezful, did not give the name or gender of the person killed, or say how many people were arrested during the unrest.
State media reported Friday that Iranian authorities had arrested at least 22 demonstrators who had been protesting sudden price increases of subsidized staple foods, 15 of them in Dezful. A firefighter was injured in clashes with demonstrators in a nearby city, Andimeshk.
The unrest came after Iran's announcement last week that the cost of cooking oil, chicken, eggs and milk would rise by as much as 300%, as food prices surge across the Middle East due to global supply chain snarls and Russia's invasion of major food exporter Ukraine.
Israeli police under inquiry over funeral
JERUSALEM -- Israeli police decided Saturday to investigate the conduct of their officers who attacked the funeral of a slain Al Jazeera journalist, causing mourners to briefly drop the casket during the ceremony in Jerusalem.
Police forces beat pallbearers with batons at the start of the funeral procession Friday of Shireen Abu Akleh, who witnesses say was killed by Israeli troops Wednesday during a raid in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says Palestinian gunmen were in the area and it's not clear who fired the fatal bullet.
The scenes at the funeral, and the death of the 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist, Abu Akleh, drew worldwide condemnation and calls for investigations, including from the United States and the United Nations.
In a statement Saturday,Israeli police said their commissioner has instructed an investigation that would be concluded in the coming days. "The Israel Police supports its police officers, but as a professional organization that seeks to learn and improve, it will also draw lessons from the incident," the statement said.
Police say they used force as hundreds of "rioters tried to sabotage the ceremony and harm the police."
On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. administration was "troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession" of Abu Akleh, who was also an American citizen. "Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner," he tweeted.
A unanimous condemnation came Friday from the U.N. Security Council, which called in a rare statement for "an immediate, thorough, transparent and impartial investigation into her killing."
National Disaster Response Force soldiers help fire officials to douse a fire in a four storied building, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
National Disaster Response Force soldiers help fire officials to control a fire in a four storied building, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A fire official stands on a fire brigade truck as debris fall from a four storied building on fire, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A fire official stands on a fire brigade truck to help his colleagues douse a fire in a four storied building, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A fire official walks out after dousing a fire in a four storied building, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A person watches as fire officials douse a fire in a four storied building, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted in a four-storied building in the Indian capital on Friday, killing at least 19 people and leaving several injured, the fire control room said. Dozens of people have been rescued from the commercial building, mainly shops, in the Mundka area in the western part of New Delhi. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
People examine the site of a fire in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted Friday evening in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing more than two dozen people and leaving several others injured, the fire control room said. (AP Photo/Shonal Ganguly)
Rescuers work at the site of a fire in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted Friday evening in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing more than two dozen people and leaving several others injured, the fire control room said. (AP Photo/Shonal Ganguly)
Rescuers work at the site of a fire in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 14, 2022. A massive fire erupted Friday evening in a four-story commercial building in the Indian capital, killing more than two dozen people and leaving several others injured, the fire control room said. (AP Photo/Shonal Ganguly)
Mourners gather Friday for the funeral of slain Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at a church in the Old City of Jerusalem. (AP/Ariel Schalit)