International News
21 Dead In Afghanistan After Bus Collision With Tanker
At least 21 people were killed and 38 injured on Sunday when a bus collided with a fuel tanker truck and burst into flames in southern Afghanistan.
Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving on highways and a lack of regulation.
“Twenty-one people were killed… in a traffic accident between a passenger bus, a tanker and a motorbike” on a main highway through Grishk district in southern Helmand province, Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP.
Of the 38 people injured, 11 were seriously hurt, according to the provincial information department.
The accident occurred in the early hours of the morning on a key highway that sees traffic between the western city of Herat through southern provinces to the capital Kabul, provincial officials said.
The passenger bus was travelling from Herat to Kabul when it first collided with a motorbike carrying two people, killing both riders, Helmand traffic management officials said, according to the information department.
The bus driver lost control and crashed with a tanker truck travelling in the opposite direction, sparking a fire.
The accident killed three people on the tanker and 16 bus passengers.
“When the bus hit the tanker, it pierced the tank, which burst into flames,” said one of the survivors, Ghulam Sarwar, speaking to AFP at a hospital in provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
“The flames got bigger and bigger and all the passengers in the front were burned. But at the back a window was broken and people were able to escape by jumping out,” he added.
“If the window hadn’t been broken, every passenger would have been killed.”
Images shared by the information department showed charred, twisted metal scattered across the highway and the crushed cabin of the tanker.
Clean-up crews arrived on site quickly to remove the debris, according to officials.
Sarwar said the bus was full of people recently deported from Iran, with many Afghans sent back across the border through the Islam Qala crossing near Herat.
“Among them were children and women,” said Sarwar, who hurt his foot leaping from the bus.
“They were screaming when they were burning. It was a horrible moment, my heart is broken.”
Another survivor, Mohammad Reza, said many of the passengers had been asleep when the accident happened around 3:00 am (2230 GMT Saturday).
“There were screams and cries when the bus caught fire,” he said, adding that some passengers in the last seven or eight rows were able to jump out the window, some injuring themselves.
“Everyone was trying to escape and save themselves,” he added.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid expressed regret over the accident and wished the injured a quick recovery, in a post on X.
“We seriously ask drivers to be careful while driving and to follow traffic rules,” he said.
Another serious accident involving an fuel tanker took place in December 2022, when the vehicle overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan’s high-altitude Salang pass, killing 31 people and leaving dozens more with burn injuries.
AFP
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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