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A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 1 November 2019
Survivors say burning train took 20 minutes to stop, 74 dead

By ASIM TANVEER Punjab. Survivors recount-
Associated Press ed horrific scenes of fel-
MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A low passengers screaming
raging fire swept through as they jumped through
a train in Pakistan's eastern windows and off the train,
Punjab Province on Thurs- flames billowing from the
day killing 74 people and carriages.
survivors said afterward it "We could hear people
took nearly 20 minutes for crying and screaming for
the train to stop amid con- help," said Chaudhry Shu-
tradictory reports about jaat, who had boarded the
the condition of the train's train just a few hours earlier
brakes. with his wife and two chil-
Three carriages were con- dren. "I thought we would
sumed by flames from a fire die. The next car was on
caused by a cooking gas fire. We felt so helpless."
stove and dozens of peo- Kaleem Ullah, an official
ple jumped in panic from with the district emergen-
the speeding train. cy services, said of the 43
Conductor Sadiue Ahmed people injured, 11 were still
Khan told The Associated in critical condition. Sev-
Press the train's emergency eral of them had jumped
breaking system was in per- Rescue workers look for survivors following a train damaged by a fire in Liaquatpur, Pakistan, off the train — many to
fect working order and the Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. their deaths — after the
train stopped within three Associated Press fire broke out and before it
minutes after the first signs eventually screeched to a
of fire. shah in neighboring Sindh saved us," she said, clutch- Jamaat, said as many as halt, said Ahmed, the rail-
"This is the worst tragedy in Province with his wife and ing the children. 52 members of his organi- ways official.
my life as a driver," he said. two children, echoed other The train, which was travel- zation were "martyred be- In Pakistan, poor passen-
Investigators said they will passengers who said it took ing from the southern Ara- cause of the fire." gers often bring their own
be looking at the train's nearly 20 minutes for the bian Sea port city of Kara- The fire apparently started small gas stoves on the
braking system to deter- train to stop. He recousnt- chi to Rawalpindi, just 10 after one of several small trains to cook their meals,
mine its condition at the ed watching panicked kilometers (6 miles) from the stoves brought on to the despite rules to the con-
time of the fire. Survivors passengers jumping off the federal capital, was carry- train by the the Tableeqi trary, according to Rail-
recounted pulling at emer- speeding locomotive. ing 857 passengers. Most of members exploded, setting ways Minister Sheikh Rashid
gency cords that weave "We learned afterward that the dead were members other gas cylinders used to Ahmed. Safety regulations
through the train to notify most of them had died," he of Tableeqi-e-Jamaat, an fuel the stoves on fire, said are often ignored in the
the conductor, but they said. organization of Islamic mis- Deputy Railways Commis- overcrowded trains. Rail-
said the train continued to Abbas' wife, Sulai Khan Bibi, sionaries. The fire was be- sioner Jamil Ahmed. way official Shabir Ahmed
speed down the tracks. said she was horrified what lieved to have started in Flames roared through the said bodies of passengers
Ghulam Abbas, a passen- would happen to their two their compartment. train engulfing three car- were scattered over a 2
ger who had gotten on the small children. "We were so Mufti Wahab, a district riages as it approached kilometer- (1 mile-) wide
train in the town of Nawab- close to death, but Allah chief of the Tableeqi-e- the town of Liaquatpur in area around the site.q

Islamic State group announces successor to al-Baghdadi

spokesman for IS identifies Kurdish forces in Jarablus in al-Baghdadi) they pledged
the successor as Abu Ibra- northern Syria on Sunday, allegiance to Abu Ibrahim
him al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi hours after al-Baghdadi al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as
— tracing his lineage, like blew himself up during a the new leader of the Be-
al-Baghdadi, to the Proph- U.S. raid in Syria's northwest- lievers."
et Muhammad's Quraysh ern Idlib province. The new IS leader is identi-
tribe. The killings were a double fied as a scholar, a well-
It provided no other details blow to the extremist group, known warrior and "emir
about al-Qurayshi and it nearly seven months after of war" who has battled
was not immediately clear its territorial defeat in Syria. American forces and
who the name was in refer- The new spokesman, knows "its wars."
ence to. The group typical- named Abu Hamza al- "So don't rejoice America
ly identifies its leaders using Qurayshi, urged followers for the death of Sheik al-
noms de guerre that refer to pledge allegiance to Baghdadi," the speaker
to their tribal affiliation and the new "caliph" and ad- said. "Don't you know
lineage. Those names often dressed the Americans, America that the state (IS)
This image released by the Department of Defense on Wednes-
day, Oct. 30, 2019, and displayed at a Pentagon briefing, shows change. saying: "Don't rejoice." today is at the doorstep
an image of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The speaker in the audio "The Shura Council met im- of Europe and is in Central
Associated Press also confirmed the death mediately after confirm- Africa? It is also expand-
of Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a ing the martyrdom of Sheik ing and remaining from
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic dadi days earlier in a U.S close aide of al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The east to west." The speaker
State group declared a raid in Syria. and a spokesman for the leaders of the Mujahedeen was referencing the slogan
new leader Thursday after In its audio release by the group since 2016. agreed after consultation IS used at the height of its
it confirmed the death of its IS central media arm, al- Al-Muhajir was killed in a with their brethren and act- successes: "Remaining and
leader Abu Bakr al-Bagh- Furqan Foundation, a new joint U.S. operation with ing according to the will (of expanding."q