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From Washington, this is VOA news. Gunmen burst into a bakery and take hostages in the diplomatic area of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Police say that eight to nine assailants entered the Holey Artisan Bakery around 9:20 p.m. local time Friday. They say several foreigners are among those still trapped inside. Two policemen were killed and several others injured, but no other fatalities have been confirmed. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. Benazir Ahmed, the head of the elite anti-crime rapid action battalion, told reporters Friday night they were working to save the lives of the people trapped inside the restaurant. He said it's a Spanish restaurant, a small restaurant that customers drop in to mostly in the evening. He said, "This restaurant is where some armed persons intruded as far as we are informed. We talked to the employees of the restaurant who managed to come out and now are trying to see if we can resolve the situation peacefully in any way." Several wounded police officers were hospitalized after security forces exchanged fire with the attackers who also hurled grenades at police. [At the White House] The White House says that President Obama has been informed about the situation. The State Department says that no American government employees were part of this situation. A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed Islamic State's deputy minister of war and a military commander in Mosul on June 25. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement the strike near Mosul killed Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari. Cook said that Hatim Talib al-Hamduni, an ISIL military commander in Mosul, was also killed in that strike. For more, visit our website. This is VOA news. The White House has released a long-anticipated report on civilians killed in drone strikes outside active conflict zones. The report says between 64 and 116 civilians were killed between 2009 and 2015. White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama is announcing a new executive order aimed at providing additional information on efforts to avoid civilian casualties. "The president believes that our counterterrorism strategy is more effective and has more credibility when we're as transparent as possible." The report covers drone strike deaths that occurred in places outside what the administration called "areas of active hostilities." That includes strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia, but not in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says she plans to accept the recommendations of career employees and federal agents [into] looking into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Speaking at a summit in Colorado Friday, Lynch insisted that career agents and investigators with the Department of Justice are acting independently, and that their probe predates her tenure as attorney general. "But, you know, in my role as attorney general, there are cases that come up to me. I am informed of them from time to time. This case, as you know, has generated a lot of attention. I'll be informed of those findings as opposed to never reading them or never seeing them. But I will be accepting their recommendations and their plan for going forward." Lynch also said it was perfectly reasonable for people to question her impromptu meeting earlier this week with former President Bill Clinton, the presidential candidate's husband. Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said the airplane meeting was a sign of Hillary Clinton's dishonesty. "You know, when I first heard the story, I said, 'No, no, you're kidding. I don't believe it. I thought somebody was joking.' But it's not a joke. It's not a joke, it's a very serious thing. But to have a thing like that happen is so sad." Many Republican lawmakers say the meeting might have compromise the email investigation. And, President Barack Obama said Friday that an effective vaccine for the Zika virus could be developed in "fairly short order" if Congress acts to quickly approve the budget needed for the research and the vaccine itself. The Obama administration has submitted a budget request of $1.9 billion to Congress. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with unusually small heads and brains. For more, log on to our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |