News in Brief -2024-07-17

Four killed in shooting near

Oman mosque

MUSCAT, July 16: Four people were killed and multiple others wounded in a shooting near a Shiite mosque in the Omani capital Muscat, police said Tuesday, a rare attack in the otherwise stable Gulf sultanate. Shiites make up a small minority of Oman's overwhelmingly Muslim population. Most Omanis follow the Sunni or Ibadi branches of the faith. "The Royal Oman Police have responded to a shooting incident that occurred in the vicinity of a mosque in the Al-Wadi Al-Kabir area," police said. — AFP

World's rarest whale washes

up on New Zealand beach

WELLINGTON, July 16: The body of a spade-toothed whale-a species so rare it has never been seen alive-appears to have washed up on a New Zealand beach, scientists say. The remains of the obscure, five-metre (16.4 foot) long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago province on July 4, government researchers said. A DNA investigation has been launched to confirm its classification, the scientists said. — AFP

Heavy rains kill at least 35

in Afghanistan

KABUL, July 16: At least 35 people were killed and 230 injured on Monday after heavy rain in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said. "On Monday evening, stormy rains killed 35 people and injured 230 others in Jalalabad and certain districts of Nangarhar" province, Quraishi Badloon, head of the department of information and culture, told the news agency. — AFP