Uganda, Pakistan, Iraq.

Today's three stories you should know.

Jun 17, 2023

Uganda

The small Ugandan town of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha has begun burying the victims of Friday night’s stomach-churning attack on a secondary school. At least 42 people, 38 of them students, were killed when men armed with guns and machetes stormed dormitories, shooting and hacking people before setting the buildings on fire. Authorities have blamed the attack on the ISIS-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group. The ADF, which hides out in the deep forests of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, was set up in the 1990s by a small group of Ugandan muslims who said their community had been sidelined by President Yoweri Museveni. The president today said he had dispatched more troops to the border region.

Pakistan

Pakistani authorities have arrested 12 suspected human traffickers days after hundreds of people were feared drowned when a boat they were travelling on sank off the Greek coast. Local media have put the number of Pakistanis on board as high as 300, while the country’s foreign ministry says just 12 citizens survived. Some 400 to 750 people are estimated to have drowned in the accident, according to the International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says he has ordered an immediate crackdown on people smuggling.

Iraq

Iraq’s culture ministry today revealed a 2,800-year-old stone tablet that has been returned by Italy after four decades. The ministry said the artefact is unique because it is inscribed with complete cuneiform text - a system of writing on clay - in the Babylonian alphabet. It’s not clear when it was discovered or how it ended up in Italy. Thousands of ancient treasures were smuggled out of Iraq during the chaos that followed the US-led invasion in 2003 and at other times in the country’s history.