Honduran peasants' leader killed

21 August 2011 Last updated at 19:17 GMT The government has sent hundreds of soldiers and police to the Bajo Aguan Valley Gunmen have shot dead farm workers' leader Secundino Ruiz in Honduras.

The murder happened in a region with heightened tension over land ownership.

Police said Mr Ruiz was killed as he was leaving a bank in the Bajo Aguan valley carrying the equivalent of more than $10,000 (£6,000) in workers' pay.

The Honduran authorities said he was murdered for the money, but the shooting comes a week after 11 people were killed in clashes between local land owners and farm workers.

'Revenge killings'

Last Sunday, six guards were killed at a local ranch in Bajo Aguan.

Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said they were targeted by a criminal gang "dedicated to stealing fruit and de-stabilising the area".

But Deputy Security Minister Armando Calidonio blamed farm workers, who he said had tried to take over the farm.

On Monday, police found the bodies of three men and two women near the same ranch.

They are not believed to have had any links to the conflict.

A local farm workers' leader said the five had been mistaken for farm workers and killed in revenge for the killings of the guards the previous day.

On Wednesday, the government deployed 600 police and 400 soldiers to the area.

Analysts say the murder of Mr Ruiz shows the presence of the extra troops has failed to quell the violence.

The latest killing has brought the total of those who have died in clashes over the past two years to at least 36.

The Aguan Valley has some of the most productive farmland in Honduras.

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VIDEO: The team that killed Bin Laden

4 May 2011 Last updated at 02:49 GMT Help

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VIDEO: Osama Bin Laden killed in Pakistan

2 May 2011 Last updated at 09:24 GMT Help

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Six killed in Dutch mall rampage

9 April 2011 Last updated at 21:02 GMT Jeroen Wollaars, a reporter from NOS, says the gun club member left two notes, including a suicide note, before he carried out his attack

A gunman in the Netherlands has killed six people and wounded at least 11 before taking his own life.

The killings took place at a busy shopping centre in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn, about 25km (15 miles) south-west of Amsterdam.

The mayor of the town said the man opened fire with an automatic weapon and then shot himself.

The gunman came from the town, was known to police and "almost certainly operated alone", said a prosecutor.

'Slaughter'

Kitty Nooy, from The Hague prosecutor's office, identified the man as 24-year-old Tristan van der Vlis, a member of a shooting club who had a permit to carry five weapons.

She said he was native Dutchman from Alphen who had had previous run-ins with the law, including an illegal weapons possession charge that was dropped.

Continue reading the main story

People went over to them to help, thinking that they had fainted. When they understood that someone was firing shots, everyone started running”

End Quote Mehdi Attha Witness Mayor Bas Eenhoorn called the incident "unprecedented" for the town of about 70,000 people.

He said four of the injured were in a critical condition and five had serious wounds.

Children were among the casualties, but officials say they are not prepared to say whether they were among the dead or the injured due to privacy reasons.

"It's hardly credible that our town could experience such slaughter, and on a day as beautiful as this," he said.

Most witnesses said the shooting lasted between 10 and 20 minutes, according to AFP news agency.

A shopkeeper in the Ridderhof centre said the gunman appeared to be shooting people at random.

"Initially, we thought it was fireworks," 37-year-old Mehdi Attha told AFP.

"Then the noises got closer and two people fell to the ground very close to me.

"People went over to them to help, thinking that they had fainted. When they understood that someone was firing shots, everyone started running," she added.

"I didn't see the shooter, I was just thinking about running."

Evacuations

Another survivor, an elderly woman, described the killer as "big and dressed in camouflage pants".

The incident happened at a busy shopping centre

"He moved about without haste, killing in cold blood," she told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Ms Nooy said notes had been found in both Van der Vlis' house and car, but did not reveal their contents.

After the shooting, Mayor Eenhoorn ordered the evacuations of three other shopping centre in the town.

He did not give a reason for the decision, but Radio Netherlands reported that the note in the attacker's car had said he had planted explosives at the other malls.

Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Mark Rutte issued statements expressing their shock and saying they sympathised with victims and families.

A resident told the BBC the shooting was unusual, despite being the second in the area this month.

"It's weird that something like this has happened in this neighbourhood. Usually nothing ever happens here. But this is the second shooting in two weeks," said Thomas Aantjes.

Two people were killed on 2 April in a shooting in the same district of the town. Officials have not made a link between the two incidents.

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Eyewitness: "I saw a young man with an automatic weapon... he was wearing camouflage gear"

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One killed in submarine shooting

8 April 2011 Last updated at 13:47 GMT Aerial footage showed police at the scene of the shooting

One person has been killed and another is in a life-threatening condition after a shooting on board the nuclear submarine HMS Astute.

A man was arrested after police were called at 1212 BST to Southampton docks where the vessel has been berthed since Wednesday as part of a five-day visit.

The BBC's Jonathan Beale understands that a crew member shot two of his crew mates before being overpowered.

A police spokeswoman said the incident is not linked to terrorism.

She said there is no public safety risk and the area is sealed off.

BBC News understands the arrested man was handed over to Hampshire police by Ministry of Defence police.

Brian Cedar, who lives in Hythe marina, said: "I saw at least six people carry a stretcher off the gangway into a waiting ambulance.

"There were a couple of forensic people who have now left.

"If you can have a shooting like this on a nuclear submarine it is worrying."

The area around the docks has been sealed off by officers from Hampshire police.

The 97m-long (318ft) HMS Astute, the UK's newest and largest nuclear submarine, is based at the Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde.

HMS Astute is currently berthed in Southampton as part of a five-day visit

It ran aground on a shingle bank between the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Skye in October last year and remained marooned for several hours.

HMS Astute was named and launched by the Duchess of Cornwall in June 2007 before being welcomed into the Royal Navy in August last year at a commissioning ceremony at Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde.

The submarine weighs 7,800 tonnes, equivalent to nearly 1,000 double-decker buses, and is almost 100 metres (328ft) long.

Its Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles are capable of delivering pinpoint strikes from 2,000km (1,240 miles) with conventional weapons.

The submarine's nuclear reactor means it does not need refuelling and it makes its own air and water, enabling it to circumnavigate the globe without needing to surface.

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Father 'admits he killed' twins

11 February 2011 Last updated at 14:50 GMT Matthias Schepp was said to be distraught by his separation from his wife The father of missing twin girls from Switzerland wrote a letter saying that he had killed his daughters before he killed himself, Swiss police say.

Police say the letter was dated 3 February, the day Matthias Schepp threw himself under a train in Italy.

He and the six-year-old girls were last seen on a ferry from mainland France to Corsica on 31 January but there has been no trace of the girls since.

Schepp failed to return them to his estranged wife at the end of January.

The girls' mother, Irina Lucidi, reported Alessia and Livia missing on 30 January, sparking a major international manhunt.

'Split personality'

"The last envelope dated February 3 contained a letter in which the father said he killed the two girls, saying he was in Cerignola [southern Italy] where he was about to kill himself," police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel said.

"I can confirm that in his letter he also said that they did not suffer and were resting in peace."

Swiss police said that Schepp sent eight letters from Bari, Italy, to his wife in Switzerland, the first seven containing a total of 4,400 euros (£3,700; $6,000).

The 43-year-old father had been looking after the girls for the weekend, but failed to return them to their home in St Sulpice, Switzerland, as planned.

Continue reading the main story Friday 28 January: Schepp picks up his daughters to spend the weekend with them in their home village, St Sulpice, where both he and his estranged wife have homesSunday 30 January at 1300 (1200 GMT): The girls are last seen with Schepp in St SulpiceSunday 30 January at 1804 (1704 GMT): Schepp crosses the border into FranceMonday 31 January: Schepp sends a despairing postcard to his wife from Marseille; he and the girls take an evening ferry to Propriano, Corsica Tuesday 1 February: Schepp disembarks in Propriano, with or without the girls; he later leaves Corsica for Naples in ItalyThursday 3 February: Schepp throws himself under a train at Cerignola, in the south Italian region of Puglia He picked up the girls on 28 January, before travelling to France and Italy. He was found dead in Cerignola, in the region of Puglia.

He was spotted with the girls on an overnight ferry from Marseille to the island of Corsica, arriving on 1 February. It is not known if he had the girls with him when he arrived.

Police have said Schepp was on his own when he sailed to the port city of Toulon in France the same day.

"In all likelihood they are in Corsica," said Mr Sauterel.

Swiss police have already revealed that Schepp had trawled websites on ferry schedules, suicide, guns and poison before taking the girls.

"We are dealing with someone who was extremely meticulous and who planned a certain number of things, including his trip to Corsica," Mr Sauterel said on Thursday.

Police in Corsica said they were searching various spots on the island where the family had vacationed before the parents split.

Swiss media carried a statement from Schepp's family saying he must have suffered a breakdown.

Ms Lucidi's family have said Schepp had a split personality, AFP news agency reported.

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VIDEO: Father's letter says he 'killed twins'

12 February 2011 Last updated at 07:33 GMT Help

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UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan

9 February 2011 Last updated at 18:02 GMT The soldiers were hit by small arms fire in the in the north of Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province Two British soldiers have been killed in small arms fire in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The servicemen, from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, were killed on Wednesday.

The soldiers were patrolling an area in the north of Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province.

Next of kin have been informed.

The number of British military deaths in operations in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 354.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand Lt Col David Eastman said thoughts and prayers were with the two men's families "at this tragic time".

"Both soldiers were engaged in vital work bringing stability, governance and development to an area that had been dominated by insurgent intimidation.

"They have given their lives fighting oppression and protecting those less able to protect themselves; we will never forget them," he said.

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