35 People Killed and Burnt in Myanmar’s Kayah State

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INTERNATIONAL: More than 30 people, including elderly people, women and children, were killed and their bodies burnt in Myanmar's conflict-torn Kayah state on Friday. The report was according to a local resident, media reports and a local human rights group.

Karenni Human Rights Group has said that they strongly denounce the inhumane and brutal killing which violates human rights. They found the burned bodies of internally displaced people – including elderly people, women and children – killed by the military rulers of Myanmar, near Mo So village of Hpruso town on Saturday.

The Myanmar military has said it had shot and killed an unspecified number of "terrorists with weapons" from the opposition armed forces in the village. Accordingly, the people were in seven vehicles and did not stop for the military. The military could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, one of the largest of several civilian militias opposing the generals who led a February 1 coup, said the dead were not their members but civilians seeking refuge from the conflict.

The United States Embassy in Myanmar has announced it was “appalled by this barbaric attack in Kayah state that killed at least 35 civilians.”

Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 8 at Congo’s Inbox Bar

A suicide bomber struck a restaurant in the city of Beni in east Congo on Saturday, 25 December, killing at least eight people including two local officials and himself. The incident was confirmed by officials.

According to a security official in Beni, the explosion took place at INBOX bar where people were celebrating Christmas, Twenty-people were wounded, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya has announced.

The attack marks the latest violence in a region where Congolese and Ugandan forces have launched a campaign against suspected Islamists.

Graphic footage shows body parts and bodies strewn on the ground in the aftermath of the suicide bombing.

Regional governor's spokesman, Gen. Ekenge Sylvain has said in a statement that the suicide bomber, prevented by security guards from entering a crowded bar, has activated the bomb at the entrance of the bar.

Two women, a teenager and a small girl were among those killed.

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The insurgents from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group aligned with the Islamic State, had activated a "sleeper cell" in Beni to target citizens. Officials have previously blamed the group for bombings in the region.

Police spokesman Nasson Murara said that officers fired live rounds to disperse an angry crowd that attempted to bar investigators from accessing the scene of the explosion. He said no one was injured.

Bodies of Drowned Migrants Wash Up on Libyan Shore

The bodies of more than a dozen migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe washed up on Libya's coastline late on Christmas day. Its interior ministry and the local Red Crescent has confirmed the incident.

Libya is a major transit point for migrants, many from African countries, who are seeking better opportunities in Europe.

The Red Crescent in Khums, a port in western Libya, said 17 bodies including that of an infant had been recovered from the shore on Saturday and that another 10 bodies had been found on a different beach.

The Interior Ministry later has confirmed 14 bodies had been recovered from a group of 60 people believed missing at sea.The bodies were still intact there were 14 of them, along with one small baby.

The United Nations migration agency IOM said last week that larger numbers of people have been trying to cross the Mediterranean this year after several years of reduced numbers since 2015. About 1,500 have drowned in 2021.

The agency's Missing Migrants Project has designated the Central Mediterranean route as the deadliest known migration route in the world, with more than 17,000 recorded deaths and disappearances since 2014.