Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label victims. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victims. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

St Petersburg metro bomb blast victims identified


  • April 4, 2017  23H:48 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
  •  
  • From the sectionEurope
Picture of Maksim AryshevImage copyrightEMBASSY OF KAZAKHSTAN
Image captionMaksim Aryshev was a student at St Petersburg State University
by Maria Ogryzlo and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, St Petersburg, Russia
The first victims of the St Petersburg metro explosion have been named, as investigators continue to piece together the identity of the attacker.
Monday's blast between two stations killed 14 people and injured almost 50.
Investigators say it may have been a suicide bomb set off by a Kyrgyzstan-born man, Akbarzhon Jalilov.
Reports in Russia say one of the victims, Irina Medyantseva, died as she tried to shield her daughter from the explosion.
Ms Medyantseva, a 50-year-old doll-maker, reportedly died in an ambulance.
Her daughter Yelena, 29, was treated for her injuries in hospital and her condition is said to be stable.
Others victims include Dilbara Alieva, 20, from Azerbaijan, who was taken to hospital but later died from her injuries.
The oldest victim was Yuri Nalimov, 71, and one of the youngest was Ksenia Malyukova, 18, Russia's investigative committee reports (in Russian).
Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said one of its nationals, Maksim Aryshev, a 20-year-old student, had died. He was wrongly named as the bomber on social media on Monday.
Media captionFootage shows passengers leaping from the wreckage in the minutes after the blast
Kyrgyzstan's security service named the suspect as Akbarzhon Jalilov, who was born in the Kyrgyz city of Osh in 1995 and had obtained Russian citizenship.
His name was later confirmed by Russian investigators, who said he also planted a second bomb that did not explode.
No group has said it was behind the bombing.

A city on edge: By Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, St Petersburg

A man lays flowers outside Tekhnologichesky Institute metro station to pay tribute to the victims of an explosion in the metro stationImage copyrightEPA
The metro here is open again, but passengers heading into the stations at the heart of the attack pass a huge pile of flowers. People here at Sennaya Ploshchad have been adding to the shrine all morning, leaving notes and stuffed toys and lighting candles.
This is a city trying to get back to normal, but there is deep shock at what's happened.
I spoke to women in tears. One told me she felt she had to bring flowers because this attack was so awful, and her mother was horrified at how random the killing was. "Everyone I know is fine," Irina said. "But it could have been any one of us."
There were bomb scares on the metro system again this morning, and several stations were closed and cordoned off as security teams moved in. It is another sign that this is a city on edge now.

The blast occurred on Monday afternoon after the train had left Sennaya Ploshchad station.
Map showing St Petersburg bombs - 4 April 2017
Senior investigator Svetlana Petrenko told Russian media the train driver's decision to continue to the next station, Tekhnologichesky Institut, had almost certainly helped save lives, as it allowed people to be rescued quickly.
Train driver Alexander Kaverin told reporters: "I just followed the procedure. You will know that this isn't the first terrorist act that we've had, there've been explosions before, so smart people came up with smart procedures.
"And these procedures say that in this situation I had to take the train to the nearest station. This is what I did. The train kept moving. There was a bang and lots of dust, but the train kept on moving."
The discovery of an explosive device at another station, Ploshchad Vosstaniya, on Monday also suggested a co-ordinated attack.
Both Mr Kaverin and another employee who found the unexploded bomb would be rewarded for their actions, metro officials said.

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Sunday, July 10, 2016

Dallas police shootings: Who are the victims?


A makeshift memorial at the Dallas police headquarters.Image copyrightAP
Image captionFive police officers were killed and seven more were injured along with two civilians

by Alyssa Mann and Biodun Iginla, BBC Newsbeat, Dallas
The five victims who were shot and killed during a deadly ambush at a Dallas protest were targeted by a gunman upset with the police.
Five police officers were shot dead while seven others and two civilians were injured in the shooting.
The gunman, identified as 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson, told negotiators he wanted to kill whites, especially white police officers,
He was killed by an explosive device detonated by a police robot.
Johnson's victims were a mix of veterans, parents, grandparents, spouses and community leaders.

DART Officer Brent Thompson, 43
Brent Thompson, a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer who was among those killed in the Dallas attack.Image copyrightEPA
Image captionBrent Thompson had recently married before he was killed in Dallas.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) authority confirmed that Mr Thompson was one of the fallen officers.
Mr Thompson, who joined the department in 2009, is the first officer to be killed in the line of duty since DART began its police force in 1989, said spokesman Morgan Lyons,
Mr Lyons said three other DART officers were wounded in the attack, but they are expected to recover.
Thompson was also recently married and served in the military as a Marine, according to his Facebook account.
He had trained police in Iraq and Afghanistan while working for a private military contractor, according to his interview with the New York Times in 2006.

Officer Patrick Zamarripa, 32
Patrick Zamarripa tweets a photo of himself.Image copyrightTWITTER
Image captionPatrick Zamarripa was a father of two
Mr Zamarripa, a Navy veteran and father of two, was one of the four police officers who was killed in the crossfire.
He served three tours in Iraq, his father Rick Zamarripa told the Washington Post.
"He comes [back] to the United States to protect people here", his father said. "And they take his life."
He would have turned 33 next month. He joined the Dallas Police Department after leaving the Navy. Most recently, he was assigned to downtown bicycle patrols. His father wanted him to quit the force because it was dangerous, but he told him he wanted to stay because he liked the action.
"Patrick would bend over backward to help anybody. He'd give you his last dollar if he had it. He was always trying to help people, protect people,'' his father The Associated Press news agency. "As tough as he was, he was patient, very giving."

Officer Michael Krol, 40
Michael Krol was one of the officers killed in an attack at a Dallas protest.Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionMichael Krol was a former employee of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office
Michigan native Michael Krol joined Dallas' police department in 2007.
Mr Krol was a former employee of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office in Michigan from 2003 to 2007.
Krol's mother, Susan Ehlke, told local television station WXYZ her son was a very "caring person".
"He was living a dream of being a police officer. [He] Just turned 40 in April. He knew the danger of the job but he never shied away from his duty as a police officer", she said.

Officer Michael J. Smith, 55
Michael J. SmithImage copyrightSUNLAND PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT
Image captionMichael J. Smith served with the Dallas police department for nearly 30 years
Sergeant Michael Smith was a father of two, according to local media outlets and the Dallas Morning News. He was a former Army ranger and attended the Lamar Institute of Technology.
He served with the Dallas police department for nearly three decades, and was known to be conscientious and professional, even paying for his training if needed.
He received a "Cops' Cop" award from the Dallas Police Association.

Officer Lorne Ahrens, 48
Lorne AhrensImage copyrightSUNLAND PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT
Image captionLorne Ahrens died in hospital from his injuries
Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens was a member of the Dallas Police Department for 14 years, according to Dallas Morning News.
"He was always one of the happy ones, with a smile on his face," one of his fellow officers told the newspaper.
The father of two died in hospital from his injuries.

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