“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 in a statement.
The force gave an initial toll of four killed and “several others” wounded at the mosque in eastern Muscat.
Such an attack is rare in the Sultanate, which has regularly played the role of mediator in regional conflicts.
The United States embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and cancelled all visa appointments Tuesday.
“US citizens should remain vigilant, monitor local news and heed directions of local authorities,” the embassy wrote on social media platform X.
Footage verified by AFP shows people fleeing near Imam Ali Mosque, its minaret visible, as gunshots ring out.
A voice can be heard saying “oh God” and repeating “oh Hussein”, referring to the imam who Shiites view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.
Shiites this week mark Ashura, an annual day of mourning that commemorates the 7th-century battlefield martyrdom of Hussein.
Police said that “all necessary security measures and procedures have been taken to handle the situation” in their statement.
“The authorities are continuing to gather evidence and conduct investigations to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the force said on X.
Israel had declared Al-Mawasi a “safe zone” as it pushed into Rafah near the Egyptian border. Still, on the weekend, Palestinians raced to collect dozens of casualties from the military’s latest strike.
Sirens wailed, and women screamed as children were pulled bloody and unmoving from the wreckage.
“What have they done? they’re children, children,” one woman cried. “Seven-year-old and 12-year-old children.”
Al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people sought refuge, was left a chaos-strewn wasteland by one of the deadliest Israeli strikes since the start of the war.
The Gaza health ministry said at least 90 people were killed, half of them women and children. It said another 300 people were wounded in the “massacre”.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an attack in the Khan Yunis area targeted Hamas military strategist Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, a brigade commander, but there was “no certainty that the two were eliminated”.
Located near the city of Khan Yunis, Al-Mawasi was designated a humanitarian area after Israel in May ordered civilians to evacuate other parts of the Gaza Strip.
“We have been warning for months that there is no safe place for anyone in Gaza amid Israel’s military bombardment,” said UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, which operates health sites in the area.
It said hundreds of thousands of displaced people were sheltering in the “safe zone”, which had been targeted before.
Black smoke billowed behind a wide, ash-strewn street in Al-Mawasi, where bodies lay in pools of blood, some covered by sheets.
Men struggling to carry the wounded wove through those beyond help to reach ambulances waiting with open doors. Others were piled onto donkey-pulled carts.
“There are people who have lost limbs everywhere. It’s a scene the mind cannot even imagine,” Mahmoud Chahine said near a market struck in the attack.
Despite the Nasser Hospital reportedly saying it was at full capacity, ambulances kept arriving, carting in the wounded on orange stretchers, including a man with a towel tied around his leg as a makeshift tourniquet.
A woman outside the hospital could be heard pleading, ” Please, enough, for God’s sake.”
The Israeli military said the attack against Deif “struck an open area” that “was not a tent complex but an operational compound”.
“According to our information, only Hamas terrorists were present, and there were no civilians,” it said.
According to Netanyahu’s office, he had discussed the strike with security and military officials as part of his goal “to eliminate senior Hamas officials”.
Hamas called the claim that Deif had been targeted “false allegations” intended “to cover up the magnitude of the horrific massacre” in Al-Mawasi.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said heavy fire was preventing its teams from reaching the “many bodies” scattered in the streets.
Mahmoud Abu Akar, an eyewitness, described repeated missiles raining down on them.
“Every time people tried to get close to rescue others, they would strike,” he said.
“There was no warning at all, it happened all of a sudden.”
Since telling people to relocate to Al-Mawasi in May, the Israeli military has been accused of repeatedly striking the area in deadly attacks.
In June when the International Committee of the Red Cross said 22 people were killed by shelling that damaged its office.
Returning from Nasser Hospital Saturday, Louise Wateridge, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said children had suffered life-changing injuries and people were angry there was no reprieve from the fighting.
“There is no safety here, no matter where people go,” she said.
Israel’s military strikes has killed at least 38,443 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry.
Stray Kids, a popular K-pop group, called it a “career highlight” as they headlined the British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park Festival on Sunday. The eight-member group from South Korea started in 2018 through a reality show by JYP Entertainment. They have fans all over the world with their unique sound and hit songs like ‘God’s Menu,’ ‘S-Class,’ and ‘Maniac.’
The members, Changbin, Felix, Hyunjin, Lee Know, Han, Seungmin, Bang Chan, and I.N, returned to London after almost five years for their first UK festival performance.
“It’s a huge festival with a big space. We’re excited to see how our energy will change it,” said Han before their one-hour-and-40-minute set in front of thousands of fans.
Time magazine named Stray Kids as one of the Next Generation Leaders. Last year, they were third on the global recording artists list by IFPI, and their album “5-Star” was the second biggest-selling album globally.
In May, all eight members walked the famous MET Gala red carpet in custom Tommy Hilfiger suits. Bang Chan said they are thankful for their streaming success but want to keep making meaningful music for their fans, known as STAYs.
“A lot of STAYs and people are supporting us, so we keep working hard,” said Seungmin.
The group is also preparing for their “comeback” with a new EP called ‘ATE,’ released on July 19. Felix said ‘ATE’ stands for the eight members who have “eaten up” their comeback, and fans can expect new styles and concepts.
“It’s been a while since our last album. With this one, we want to show how genuine we are with music and offer various styles for everyone to enjoy,” said Bang Chan.
“We’re giving our all, and that makes us confident,” added Changbin.
Lollywood queen Resham is not just a great actress but also the owner of a heart of gold. But the internet didn’t even spare her charity work. The star opened up about being trolled for her work, feeding underprivileged communities.
Undeterred by negative comments, Resham said, “People on social media say all kinds of things like she’s making food for charity out of ill-gotten money, but I say let Allah decide.”
Resham, who has been personally preparing and distributing food to the needy for the past 20 years, emphasized her dedication. “This has been going on continuously for the past six years, all 12 months,” she stated, highlighting her unwavering commitment to helping others.
Bollywood fans went wild when a photo of former couple Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai together at Anant Ambani’s wedding appeared online. The wedding, hosted by India’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani on July 12, was a star-studded event with many Bollywood stars and international celebrities in attendance.
Aishwarya Rai, along with her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, posed for photos. The rest of the Bachchan family also attended separately. However, a viral image showing Aishwarya holding Salman Khan’s hand, with Salman’s sister Arpita Khan Sharma in the background, grabbed everyone’s attention.
Fans speculated and expressed joy, wondering if the two stars were getting back together. But it was soon revealed that the photo was fake and created using artificial intelligence (AI).
They also had a real-life relationship that ended years ago, even though they were close to getting married.
The autopsy report of Sania Zehra from Multan has been released, confirming that she was not pregnant while the cause of her death as asphyxia by hanging.
Ligature marks on her neck are consistent with hanging, says the report.
The report clearly stated that the hyoid bone was intact, and there were no visible signs of injury or violence.
However, samples from the stomach, liver, and spleen have been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for further analysis.
Zehra’s body has been exhumed by the police. She was allegedly murdered by her husband in Multan. Sania’s father Syed Asad Abbas Shah claimed in FIR that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He stated that his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the alleged murder as a suicide, contrary to the crime scene.
The police’s investigation also revealed that the woman married at the age of 14 and had a history of suicidal tendencies in her family, with her brother having died by suicide six months prior.
Sania’s father, Syed Abbas Shah, told BBC in an interview that his daughter’s death is painted as a suicide while it was a murder.
“The police should investigate and tell me whether my daughter was killed or she committed suicide and if she did commit suicide, then they should investigate why she did it.”
He added further that the police should investigate what the in-laws did that forced his daughter to commit suicide. “I want a fair and transparent investigation into my daughter’s death,” Asad stressed.
He told BBC that the incident took place on June 9, but the police did not registered an FIR rightaway. After much protest FIR got registered on June 11.
The father claimed that so far the accused, his family and no employee of the house has been arrested.
On the other hand, DIG Multan Sadiq Ali Dogar claims that the police had detained people from the in-laws on the first day but they were released on the request of Sania’s father.
He (the father) said that we do not want to file an FIR, they (in-laws) should be released,” he shared father’s statement. “As the matter went to social media, the in-laws ran away in fear, but we are trying hard to catch them.
Background
A 20-year-old pregnant mother of two, identified as Sania Zehra, was found dead on Monday (July 8) in Multan. The news took over social media, getting widely shared.
She was allegedly murdered by her husband.
The victim’s father told the police that he received a call on Tuesday at 9 am from a police official, who asked him to head to his daughter’s residence. There they found the woman hanging from a ceiling fan.
The FIR said that when the forensic specialist arrived at the scene and tried to untie the noose around the victim’s neck, it opened up quite easily. However, a doctor present at the scene said that the victim had died at 6 pm that day.
The complainant quoted the doctor as saying that the victim’s jaw was found broken, adding that marks of rope were also found on the victim’s feet. Signs of assault were also visible on the victim’s ribs and elbows while both her eyes were bruised.
The FIR declared that the victim was five to six months pregnant at the time of her death.
The police said that the suspect, the husband, had fled the scene and did not even inform the family of their daughter’s death.
The complainant told the police that his daughter’s husband had lied to the victim’s family at the time of their marriage and was already married to another woman.
The family filed a case in the family court against the suspect; however, the case was eventually retracted.
Husband pressurizing for money
The husband kept on threatening his wife and pressured her to sell the house she owned.
It also said that the suspect had visited the complainant before the victim’s death and had threatened that he would kill her if the property in her name was not transferred to him.
The father said that his daughter was murdered by her husband, who was after her property and the matter was being “portrayed as a suicide”.
Social media speculations
The information above was what Tasur Subhani and Imran Gabol reported for Dawn. However, social media has few other speculations with a page dedicated to seek justice for the victim who is identified as Syeda Sania Zehra. She, according to that page, belongs to an influential background, her father being a political figure from Multan, Syed Asad Abbas Shah.
The husband, Syed Ali Raza and mother-in-law Azra Jeewan Shah are said to be complicit in the murder. The mother-in-law allegedly told the victim’s family wheb they came to pick daughter’s body, “Don’t make noise and take your daughter home.”
An investigation has started upon the instructions of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Finance Punjab Sohail Shaukat Butt and Chairperson Women Protection Authority MPA Hina Parvez Butt met the victim’s family in Multan.
Butt confirmed that a complete investigation into the matter would be carried out.
‘Crossroads’ is making history as Asia’s first vertically shot series. This means it’s filmed in a 9:16 aspect ratio, perfect for mobile viewing. It’s available in over 20 languages, using both human and AI dubbing to reach a global audience. Each episode lasts just 75 seconds, ideal for busy schedules. You can watch it on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
The story follows Burak, a billionaire seeking revenge, and Haya, a game designer. After a painful breakup in college, they unexpectedly reunite when Haya’s company partners with Burak’s business. This reignites old emotions, leading to a gripping tale of love, revenge, and second chances.
The first five episodes introduce Baby Billionaire Burak, played by Khushhal Khan. Each under 2 minutes, these episodes keep viewers hooked with Burak’s insights on love and success, his painful college breakup, and his colleagues’ crushes. The mystery of Burak’s past heartbreak and his connection to Haya keeps the intrigue alive.
The series brings a Turkish drama feel, appealing to Gen Z and other age groups. The intense, emotional storytelling and visually striking presentation make it a unique experience. Khushhal Khan’s performance stands out, portraying a heartbroken yet strong character.
While the 75-second episodes are convenient, they limit storytelling. We hope the over 60 planned episodes will fully develop the plot. The focus on Burak’s interview and past heartbreak could use more variation and advancement.
Crossroads is directed by Fahad Noor, written by Eric Berg, and features a stellar cast including Khushhal Khan, Mamya Shajaffar, and Simi Raheel.
The federal government of Pakistan has decided to go all in against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its leadership as the Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar announced on Monday that the Shehbaz Sharif administration plans to ban the PTI as well as file treason cases against Imran Khan and former President Arif Alvi.
“PTI and Pakistan cannot co-exist,” Tarar told a press conference in Islamabad, saying that the federal government will move the apex court to file a petition to ban the party.
Tarar stated that the decision to take these actions was taken in view of PTI’s alleged involvement in the May 9 riots and its leaders’ attempts to sabotage IMF’s bailout package deal with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Shah Mahmood Qureshi was indicted in cases related to May 9 events today.
The Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political & Public Affairs, Rana Sanaullah, commented on the recent Supreme Court verdict on the reserved seats case, saying, “The judiciary cannot alter the constitution, but parliament can.”
In a significant legal victory for the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the “party is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats”.
Sanaullah criticised the top court’s verdict, saying that it “violated Article 51” and relevant clauses that clearly bound independent candidates to join political parties within three days after elections.
He also disapproved of the ruling granting an additional two weeks to process the independent candidates’ affiliations to their desired political parties.
The senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader also stated that the verdict would be “opening the front gate for horse-trading.”
US President hopeful Donald Trump says he has been shot in the ear at a political rally, saying he heard a “whizzing sound” and feeling a “bullet ripping through skin”
At the scene, a male attacker was shot and killed by a member of the Secret Service after the apparent assassination attempt on Trump at the event in Pennsylvania.
The attacker also killed one and critically injured two others at the rally.
A witness told BBC they saw a man with a rifle crawling on a nearby roof before the shots rang out.
Trump is safe, but many are saying the attempt on his life will help seal his win in the presidential race against Joe Biden.
