News in Brief

24 killed in China landslide

Beijing, August 8 (IANS): At least 24 people were killed and five others injured in a landslide on Tuesday in China’s Sichuan province. The landslide occurred around 6 a.m. in Gengdi village in an area mainly inhabited by the Yi ethnic minority, Xinhua news agency quoted officials as saying. The landslide was caused by heavy rains lashing the area over the past few days. On June 24, another landslide left nearly 100 people dead or missing in the Xinmo locality of Sichuan.

40 Iraqi Shia paramilitary fighters killed in US airstrikes

Baghdad, August 8 (IANS): Forty Iraqi Hashd Shaabi fighters were killed when the US forces pounded its posts near Syria border, the Shia paramilitary unit said on Tuesday, warning the attack will not go unpunished. The US forces carried out “heavy bombardment on Monday morning on the posts of Sayyd al-Shuhadaa Brigades in Akashat area near the border with Syria,” Xinhua cited the unit as saying in a statement. It said the group “holds the US forces responsible for the consequences of the action. We declare that it will not go without punishment”. The unit also called on the Iraqi government to launch a probe into the incident, and urged Iraq to protect border with Syria “in order to deprive the Americans from using the border line to pass their malicious agendas”. The media reports said around 30 persons were wounded in the US artillery bombardment on the units posts in western Iraq. The incident came as the Iraqi forces, including the Hashd Shaabi units and Sunni tribal fighters, prepare to liberate the IS-held town of Tal Afar, about 70 km from Mosul.