Russia mourns nationalist's daughter killed in car bomb

Moscow blames Ukrainian intelligence and vows "no mercy" for killers of Daria Dugina, daughter of a pro-Kremlin intellectual. Kiev denies any involvement.

Russia's powerful FSB security agency says it has solved the crime –– just two days after the incident –– naming a Ukrainian woman as Dugina's attacker. (AFP)

Russia has vowed "no mercy" for the killers of Daria Dugina, the daughter of an ultranationalist intellectual, as hundreds gathered for her funeral following her death in a car bomb blast over the weekend. "I believe that this is a barbaric crime for which there is no forgiveness," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Tuesday, calling for "no mercy" for those responsible. Moscow says Ukrainian intelligence was behind the attack –– a claim dismissed by Kiev. Alexander Dugin, a vocal supporter of the Kremlin's military campaign in Ukraine who has claimed to be close to President Vladimir Putin, may have been the intended target of the attack that killed his 29-year-old daughter. Mourners, many carrying flowers, paid their respects at a hall in Moscow's Ostankino TV centre where Dugina's black-and-white portrait was displayed over an open casket. Dugin and his wife, both dressed in black, sat next to their daughter's coffin. "She died for the people, for Russia, at the front. The front –– it is here," Dugin said at the ceremony. "Since childhood, among her first words –– that we taught her of course –– were Russia, our state, our people, our empire," he added. Dugina was killed on Saturday when a bomb placed in her car went off as she drove on a highway outside Moscow. Ukrainian woman behind Dugina's attacker? Russia's powerful FSB security agency said on Monday it had solved the crime –– just two days after the incident –– naming a Ukrainian woman as Dugina's attacker. It said the perpetrator had rented an apartment in the same building as Dugina and followed her in a car, suggesting that Dugina was the intended victim. Ukraine has denied any involvement. "It is certainly not our responsibility," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening. The US Department of State said on Monday that it condemned targeting civilians, while stating that Ukraine had denied any involvement. Russia's retorted that Washington's reaction "discredits the international activity" of the United States. "Washington has no moral right... to judge human rights in remote parts of the world, since the murder of a journalist is not even commented on from this angle," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on social media. Source: AFP

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Car Bomb Kills Daughter of Kremlin Hardline Ideologue

The daughter of Alexader Dugin, a hardline Russian ideologue close to President Vladimir Putin, has been killed in a car bombing on Moscow's outskirts, authorities said on Sunday. According to family members quoted by Russian media, Dugin — a vocal supporter of Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine — was the likely target of the blast as his daughter borrowed his car at the last minute. Daria Dugina, born in 1992, was killed when a bomb placed in her Toyota Land Cruiser went off as she drove on a highway near the village of Bolshie Vyzyomy, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. Dugina died on the scene and a homicide investigation has been opened, said the committee, which probes major crime cases in Russia. Dugin, sometimes called  "Putin's Rasputin" or "Putin's brain," is an outspoken Russian ultranationalist intellectual. He has long advocated the unification of Russian-speaking territories in a vast new Russian empire and wholeheartedly supported Moscow's operation in Ukraine.  He was put on a Western sanctions list after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move he also backed. The head of one of Ukraine's breakaway separatist regions blamed the blast on Kyiv authorities. "The Ukrainian regime terrorists tried to liquidate Alexander Dugin, but blew up his daughter," DNR chief Denis Pushilin wrote on Telegram.           

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Thailand's south hit by multiple bomb, arson attacks

Fast News

Convenience stores and a gas station across three provinces in Thailand's south were targeted, lightly injuring at least seven, police and military stated.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far. (Twitter/@thestandardth)

Explosions and fires ripped through at least 17 locations in southern Thailand, authorities said, in what appeared to be multiple coordinated attacks that injured seven people.

The bombings and arson attacks happened on Wednesday after midnight and targeted convenience stores and a gas station across three provinces, lightly injuring at least seven, according to police and military statements.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

Provinces in southern Thailand along the border with Malaysia have seen a decades-long, low-level insurgency, in which the Thai government has battled shadowy groups seeking independence for the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of Songkhla.

Disrupted peace talks

More than 7,300 people have been killed in the conflict since 2004, according to the Deep South Watch group, which monitors the violence.

Peace talks that began in 2013 have faced repeated disruptions.

Wednesday's attacks came after the Thai government earlier this year restarted discussions with the main insurgent group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The government has said it is ready to talk to all groups.

READ MORE: How Patani-Malay Muslims refuse to be swallowed by Thailand's mainstream

Source: Reuters

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Deadly bomb attack hits Afghan capital

Fast News

The blast occurred in a west Kabul neighbourhood that is mainly inhabited by members of the ethnic Hazara community, who are mostly Shia Muslims.

No group has so far claimed the blast, but Daesh has regularly targeted Shia Muslims in Afghanistan. (Reuters Archive)

A bomb attached to a handcart has exploded in Kabul, police said, killing eight people and wounding 18 in an area largely inhabited by Afghanistan's minority Shia Muslim community.

The explosives were attached to a handcart loaded with vegetables and parked in an area where residents shopped for daily food items, Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told reporters on Friday.

"The explosion took place amongst civilians and according to preliminary information two of our citizens were martyred and three others were wounded," he said.

The blast occurred in a west Kabul neighbourhood that is mainly inhabited by members of the ethnic Hazara community, who are mostly Shia Muslims.

Shia Muslims in Afghanistan are currently commemorating the first 10 days of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, culminating in Ashura, which marks the death of the revered Imam Hussein Ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

READ MORE: Did the US violate Doha accord by taking out Al Qaeda chief Zawahiri?

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muo1turFIbw[/embed]

Key security challenge

No group has so far claimed the blast, but Daesh has regularly targeted Shia Muslims in Afghanistan.

The number of violent public attacks across the country has fallen since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, but Daesh has continued to target Shia Muslims, whom it views as heretics.

The minority group makes up between 10 to 20 percent of Afghanistan's population of 38 million.

Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated Daesh, but analysts say the group remains a key security challenge.

READ MORE: How smouldering discontent affects the Taliban rule in Afghanistan

Source: AFP

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