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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 14 OctOber 2017
Local official: 100 IS fighters surrender in Syria’s Raqqa

BEIRUT (AP) — Some 100 the ground in exhaustion as
fighters from the Islamic they arrive.
State group handed them- They seemed to be taking
selves over to U.S.-backed advantage of a slowdown
fighters in the northern city in the fighting and airstrikes
of Raqqa Friday as fighting by the U.S.-led coalition
continued with remaining amid efforts to ensure the
gunmen in a pocket inside safe evacuation of an es-
the city. Omar Alloush of timated 4,000 civilians who
the Raqqa Civilian Council remain trapped in the city.
did not give details how the The coalition has said that IS
100 fighters surrendered but militants are holding some
said fighting is still ongoing civilians to use as human
in parts of the city that was shields, preventing them
once the de facto capital from escaping as the fight
of IS. enters its final stages.
U.S.-backed fighters of the The city, on the banks of
Syrian Democratic Forces the Euphrates River, has
have been on the offensive been badly damaged by
in Raqqa since early June This frame grab shows Syrian civilians who fled from the areas still controlled by the Islamic State the fighting, and activists
and have so far captured militants, as they gather at point of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, in have reported that over
more than 80 percent of the Raqqa, Syria. 1,000 civilians have been
city under the cover of air- (Mezopotamya Agency, via AP) killed there since June.
strikes by the U.S.-led coali- “There are still fighters but Earlier Friday, scores of civil- fighters seeking to retake The video released by the
tion. IS still controls the city’s the area they control is get- ians including women and the city. Turkey-based Kurdish Mezo-
stadium that is believed to ting smaller,” said Moham- children fled the last few A new video that emerged potamya Medya on Friday
be a jail run by the extrem- med Khedher of Sound remaining neighborhoods Friday shows desperate, showed clearly petrified
ists, as well as the National and Picture Organization, held by the IS in Raqqa, terrified residents emerg- residents running toward
Hospital and a small part of which tracks atrocities by IS ahead of an anticipated ing from destroyed districts, safety, some clutching ba-
northern Raqqa. in Iraq and Syria. final push by U.S.-backed some of them collapsing on bies or wounded people.q

Floods and landslides kill 54, leave 39 missing in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — 39 missing since a tropical years, officials said Friday.
Floods and landslides have depression hit the country The heavy rain in the cen-
killed at least 54 people in earlier this week, in one of tral and northern regions
Vietnam and left another its worst natural disasters in disrupted transportation in

Flash floods damage a house in northern province of Hoa Binh,
Vietnam on Friday Oct. 13, 2017. Floods and landslides have
killed dozens of people in Vietnam since a tropical depression
hit the country earlier this week, in one of its worst natural
disasters in years, officials said Friday.
(Nhan Sinh/Vietnam News Agency via AP)

some areas, hampering ef- from the southern district
forts to rescue the missing. of Tram Tau was cut off by
The storm, which hit cen- landslides and floods, mak-
tral Vietnam on Tuesday, ing it impossible to send
also injured 31 people, sub- additional search forces to
merged more than 30,000 look for six people still miss-
houses, and damaged in- ing there,” Lien said, add-
frastructure and crops, the ing that the search opera-
Vietnam Disaster Manage- tions in the district are rely-
ment Authority said in a ing on local military, police
statement Friday. and villagers.
Disaster official Nguyen Thi Another tropical depres-
Lien from northern Yen Bai sion has been upgraded to
province, where six people a tropical storm, Khanun,
died from the floods, said which swept through the
580 soldiers and police Philippines’ northern island
and more than 2,000 resi- of Luzon early Friday and is
dents have been mobilized moving in the South China
to search for 16 others still Sea toward Vietnam, ac-
missing in the province. cording to national weath-
“Transportation to and er forecasters.q