MEXICO CITY – An inmate who recently fled from a prison in central Mexico only to be recaptured the next day was found beaten to death inside his cell, Morelos state authorities said.
Guards made the discovery Wednesday after Hilario Montaño, 45, failed to show up for roll call.
The victim, who was serving 30 years for homicide and auto theft, escaped from Atlacholoya prison with three other inmates last Friday, but was apprehended a day later.
Media outlets said that once back in custody, Montaño told authorities the escapees had help from guards. The same outlets suggested he might have been killed for fingering the guards.
“They are accounts that are circulating, but they are not confirmed,” the No. 2 official in Morelos, Government Secretary Jorge Messeguer, told Radio Formula.
He added, however, that Montaño’s murder would be incomprehensible “without the complicity of guards.”
All of the guards who were on duty Wednesday will be questioned in connection with Montaño’s killing, the state government said.
Ten guards at Atlacholoya are already under investigation for the Jan. 3 escape
ON THE STREETS OFFARMERSANDDOUGLASCOLONYCANDIDOAGUILARCITYANDPUERTODE VERACRUZWERELEFTHEADSOFTHREE MENWITH AposterWITH A MESSAGETHATSAID:THISIS GOINGTO SPENDALLTHATfilthyTHATANDEKIDNAPPINGANDSTEALINGPEOPLEINNOCENTATTE.CJNG.
The Eastern Province police arrested on Thursday the man filmed on a surveillance camera sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl in the foyer of a residential building in Dammam. Col. Ziad Al-Ruqaiti, spokesman for the Eastern Province police, said the man is in his 20s and has a criminal record. He said specialists analyzed the video published on YouTube and used the information to identity the perpetrator.
Al-Ruqaiti said the police dealt with few such cases. He warned parents to watch over their children when they are out in public. There was an outpouring of anger and shock on the Internet on Wednesday after the 47-second video appeared on YouTube. Many users on social networks called for the government to punish the man severely and introduce new legislation, including tougher sanctions, for sexual harassment. They also called on government to introduce lessons on sexual harassment at schools. The video shows the little girl in her school uniform standing at the elevator in the foyer of the building when the perpetrator shows up. The man, dressed in a white short-sleeved thobe and skullcap, first walks past her to check if anyone is on the staircase and then turns back to talk to her. He checks the doors to the fire escape and the elevator, and then lifts the little girl’s dress and starts molesting her. He stops as the elevator arrives, and then enters it behind her. The video ends at this point. Suhaila Zain Al-Abideen, a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), has called on the judiciary to name and shame men found guilty of sexual abuse, followed by lengthy jail sentences.
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military recruiting center in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 21 people in an attack likely meant to send a message to the government and would-be army volunteers over the Iraqi troops’ ongoing push to retake two cities overrun by Al-Qaeda militants. The blast struck as an international rights group warned of the apparent use of indiscriminate mortar fire in civilian areas by Iraqi forces in their campaign to reassert control over the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Tribal leaders in Fallujah, 65 km west of Baghdad, have warned Al-Qaeda fighters there to leave to avoid a military showdown. Vice President Joe Biden has spoken to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki twice this week, voicing support for his government’s efforts to regain control of the cities and urging him to continue talks with local, tribal and national leaders. Iran, too, is watching the unrest with alarm as it shares American concerns about Al-Qaeda-linked militants taking firmer root in Iraq. It has offered to supply military equipment and advisers to help fight militants in Anbar should Baghdad ask for assistance. Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Iraqi forces appear to have used mortar fire indiscriminately in civilian areas in recent days in their effort to dislodge militants in Anbar, and that some residential areas were targeted with mortar shells and gunfire even though there was no signs of an Al-Qaeda presence in those specific areas. The New York-based group said its allegations were based on multiple accounts provided by Anbar residents. It also warned that a government blockade of Ramadi and Fallujah is limiting civilian access to food, water and fuel, and that “unlawful methods of fighting by all sides” has caused civilian casualties and major property damage. Several approaches to Fallujah have been blocked by Iraqi troops, and only families with children were being allowed to leave with “extreme difficulty” through two checkpoints that remained open, the rights group said. It added that single men were being denied exit from the city. “Civilians have been caught in the middle in Anbar, and the government appears to be doing nothing to protect them,” the group’s Mideast director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement.
Jazan Border Guard patrols busted 352 slabs of cannabis (known locally as hashish), weighing 358 kg on Thursday. Three drug traffickers were transporting the substance by boat. The main smuggler, who jumped into to sea to escape arrest, sought the guard’s assistance to save him from drowning.
Brig. Gen. Abdullah bin Mahfouz, a spokesman for the Jazan border guards, said the operation was detected by the marine radar staff, who saw an object going from the north to the south. “When we approached the boat, we found three persons on board. They tried to escape, but we fired some warning shots. Feeling besieged and powerless, one of them tried to escape by jumping into the sea. But he did not know how to swim and was rescued by police divers,” he said. “When the police took over the boat, the three were put under arrest. The boat was found containing quantities of cannabis and three cell phones, in addition to a Garmin GPS device.” He said the trio was carrying 352 cannabis slabs weighing 358 kg. He added that security agents were studying the case to take proper action against the three. Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Al-Subhi, commander of the Jazan border guard, said: “I ask vacationers and holiday makers, as well as fishermen at sea, to report any suspicious boat they see at sea by calling 994.”
PESHAWAR: The father of a Pakistani teenager killed after tackling a suicide bomber Thursday hailed his son for saving “hundreds” of lives through his bravery. Aitzaz Hassan, aged around 15, died in hospital after stopping the bomber, who blew himself up, at the gates of his school in the northwestern district of Hangu on Monday.
His father Mujahid Ali Bangash, 55, told AFP he felt not sadness but pride at his son’s death. “Aitzaz has made us proud by valiantly intercepting the bomber and saving the lives of hundreds of his fellow students,” he said. “I am happy that my son has become a martyr by sacrificing his life for a noble cause.” Bangash works in the UAE and was only able to reach Ibrahimzai village, which lies in an area of Hangu, the day after his son’s funeral. “Many people are coming to see me but if they try to express sympathy, I tell them to congratulate me instead on becoming the father of a martyr,” he said. “I will be even more than happy if my second son also sacrifices his life for the country.” Police official Shakirullah Bangash told AFP that Aitzaz intercepted the bomber some 490 feet away from the main gate of the school, which has around 1,000 students. The schoolchildren were the target of the attack, he added. News of Hassan’s bravery also led to an outpouring of tributes on social media.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, along with his aunt Kim Kyong Hui, right, attend a statue unveiling. Photo / AP
The aunt of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has died in mysterious circumstances, it was reported today. Kim Kyong-hui, 67, whose husband Jang Song-Thaek was executed under Jong-un's orders less than a month ago, is said to have either suffered a heart attack or committed suicide by North Korean media.
There has been speculation on her health and whereabouts since the death on 8 December of her husband, also 67, described as "scum" by his 30-year-old nephew. Read: Kim Jong-un 'very drunk' ordering executions
Kyong-hui, who was said to have been receiving treatment for heart disease, reportedly had a heart attack soon after her husband was killed in what is believed to be an attempt by Kim Jong-un to tighten his grip on North Korea.
MEXICO CITY – An inmate who recently fled from a prison in central Mexico only to be recaptured the next day was found beaten to death inside his cell, Morelos state authorities said.
