Tag Archives: Police

Boko Haram make biggest raid on Nigeria’s Maiduguri in 18 months

By Lanre Ola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Boko Haram insurgents launched their biggest attack on the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri in 18 months on Wednesday night, the eve of a visit by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to war refugees sheltering there.

Police said that 14 people were killed before government troops beat back the raid.

Maiduguri is the center of the eight-year-old fight against Boko Haram, which has been trying to set up an Islamic caliphate in the northeast.

The fighters attacked the city’s suburbs with anti-aircraft guns and several suicide bombers, said Damian Chukwu, police commissioner of Borno State, of which Maiduguri is the capital.

“A total of 13 people were killed in the multiple explosions with 24 persons injured, while one person died in the attack (shooting),” he told reporters.

Osinbajo went ahead with his visit to Maiduguri, planned prior to the attack, launching a government food aid initiative to distribute 30,000 metric tonnes of grains to people displaced by the insurgency, his spokesman Laolu Akande said.

President Muhammadu Buhari handed power to Osinbajo after going to Britain on medical leave on May 7.

Aid workers and Reuters witnesses reported explosions and heavy gunfire for at least 45 minutes in the southeastern and southwestern outskirts of the city. Thousands of civilians fled the fighting, according to Reuters witnesses.

The police commissioner said several buildings were set on fire but the military repulsed the fighters after an hour.

The raid took place six months after Buhari said Boko Haram had “technically” been defeated by a military campaign that had pushed many insurgents deep into the remote Sambisa forest, near the border with Cameroon.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram’s campaign to establish a caliphate in the Lake Chad basin. A further 2.7 million have been displaced, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies.

Despite the military’s success in liberating cities and towns, much of Borno remains off-limits, hampering efforts to deliver food aid to nearly 1.5 million people believed to be on the brink of famine.

The government food program launched by Osinbajo seeks to distribute grains to 1.8 million people delivered quarterly, his office said in an emailed statement.

The acting president, speaking in Maiduguri, said a “comprehensive livelihood and support program” would be launched by the government within weeks.

A United Nations official on Wednesday said the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has had to scale back plans for emergency feeding of 400,000 people in the region due to funding shortfalls.

(Writing by Ulf Laessing and Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Man shot after attacking police outside Paris’ Notre Dame

French police stand at the scene of a shooting incident near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

PARIS (Reuters) – French police shot and wounded a man who attacked officers with a hammer outside the Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday and the Paris prosecutor’s office swiftly launched a counter-terrorism investigation.

Armed police cordoned off the site and the cathedral in central Paris that is visited by millions of tourists every year was locked down during the incident.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. It comes just three days after Islamist militants killed seven people in London in a knife and van attack.

“Situation under control, one policeman injured, the assailant was neutralized and taken to hospital,” Paris police said on Twitter.

Two police sources said the officers shot the assailant in the thorax after he had threatened them with a hammer and refused to stop. One policeman was hurt, according to one source.

Karine Dalle, a spokeswoman for the Paris diocese, told BFM TV 900 people were still inside the cathedral as police secured the area.

One holidaymaker inside Notre Dame wrote on Twitter: “Not the holiday experience wanted. Trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral after police shoot a man. We are with our 2 terrified children.”

France is under a state of emergency after a wave of militant attacks since early 2015 that have killed more than 230 people across the country.

It has soldiers patrolling its streets alongside police to protect tourist sites, government buildings and events.

Three women were arrested in September after police found a car laden with gas cylinders abandoned near Notre Dame cathedral in what the interior ministry at the time said was a likely planned imminent attack.

(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva and Emmanuel Jarry; writing by John Irish; Editing by Richard Lough)

U.S. Supreme Court to settle major cellphone privacy case

People speak on their cell phones near a blocked off area after a speeding vehicle struck pedestrians in Times Square in New York City, May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Police officers for the first time could be required to obtain warrants to get data on the past locations of criminal suspects based on cellphone use under a major case on privacy rights in the digital age taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal by a man convicted in a series of armed robberies in Ohio and Michigan with the help of past cellphone location data who contends that without a warrant from a court such data amounts to an unreasonable search and seizure under the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.

Cellphone location records are becoming increasingly important to police in criminal investigations, with authorities routinely requesting and receiving this information from wireless providers.

Police helped establish that the man at the center of the case, Timothy Carpenter, was near the scene of the robberies at Radio Shack and T-Mobile stores by securing past “cell site location information” from his cellphone carrier that tracked which local cellphone towers relayed his calls.

The case reaches the high court amid growing scrutiny of the surveillance practices of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies amid concern among lawmakers across the political spectrum about civil liberties and police evading warrant requirements.

The legal fight has raised questions about how much companies protect the privacy rights of their customers. The big four wireless carriers, Verizon Communications Inc<VZ.N>, AT&T Inc<T.N>, T-Mobile US Inc<TMUS.O> and Sprint Corp<S.N>, receive tens of thousands of requests a year from law enforcement for what is known as “cell site location information,” or CSLI. The requests are routinely granted.

The Supreme Court has twice in recent years ruled on major cases concerning how criminal law applies to new technology, on each occasion ruling against law enforcement. In 2012, the court held that a warrant is required to place a GPS tracking device on a vehicle. Two years later, the court said police need a warrant to search a cellphone that is seized during an arrest.

The information that law enforcement agencies can obtain from wireless carriers shows which local cellphone towers users connect to at the time they make calls. Police can use historical data to determine if a suspect was in the vicinity of a crime scene or real-time data to track a suspect.

Carpenter’s bid to suppress the evidence failed and he was convicted of six robbery counts. On appeal, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his convictions, finding that no warrant was required for the cellphone information.

Civil liberties lawyers have said that police need “probable cause,” and therefore a warrant, in order to avoid constitutionally unreasonable searches.

‘LONGSTANDING PROTECTIONS’

“Because cellphone location records can reveal countless private details of our lives, police should only be able to access them by getting a warrant based on probable cause,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberty Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project who represents Carpenter.

“The time has come for the Supreme Court to make clear that the longstanding protections of the Fourth Amendment apply with undiminished force to these kinds of sensitive digital records,” Wessler added.

But, based on a provision of a 1986 federal law called the Stored Communications Act, the government said it does not need probable cause to obtain customer records. Instead, the government said, prosecutors must show only that there are “reasonable grounds” for the records and that they are “relevant and material” to an investigation.

The case will be heard and decided in the court’s next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2018.

The Trump administration said in court papers the government has a “compelling interest” for acquiring the records without a warrant because the information is particularly useful at the early stage of a criminal investigation.

“Society has a strong interest in both promptly apprehending criminals and exonerating innocent suspects as early as possible during an investigation,” the administration said in a brief.

David LaBahn, president of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said warrants can be obtained quickly from judges but police may have problems getting the evidence needed to show probable cause.

“They may not be able to get over that legal hurdle, so the court couldn’t issue the warrant,” LaBahn said.

Civil liberties groups assert that the 1986 law did not anticipate the way mobile devices now contain a wealth of data on each user.

Steve Vladeck, a national security and constitutional law professor at the University of Texas, said the case will have “enormous implications” over how much data the government can obtain from phone companies and other technology firms about their customers without a warrant.

“Courts and commentators have tried to figure out exactly when individuals will have a continuing expectation of privacy even in data they’ve voluntarily shared with a third party,” Vladeck said. “This case squarely raises that question.”

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Will Dunham)

Security guard kills Arab-Israeli protester in central Israel: police

A police car, burnt during clashes which erupted in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem, is seen at the entrance to the town in central Israel, early June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Tomer Appelbaum

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A security guard shot and killed an Arab-Israeli citizen as hundreds of protesters stormed a police station in central Israel overnight and set fire to vehicles, police said on Tuesday.

The violence erupted after police officers in the Arab town of Kafr Qassem attempted to apprehend a suspect wanted for questioning, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

About 50 residents confronted the officers and hurled rocks at them, Rosenfeld added.

Hundreds of residents, some of them masked, later broke through the gates of the local police station and tried to enter the building, he said.

“The security guard at the police station felt his life was in danger and opened fire,” Rosenfeld said.

He said one of the protesters was critically wounded and died in hospital.

Television footage distributed by the police showed rocks strewn along the road and three vehicles on fire.

Kafr Qassem’s mayor, Adel Badir, said the guard had used excessive force. “I don’t understand how the security guard could say he felt his life was in danger if he had police officers with him,” Badir told Army Radio.

Badir said tensions with police have been high in recent weeks, because residents feel officers have been ignoring a rise in violent crime.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Militants drive van into people on London Bridge, stab others

Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain, June 3, 2017. Reuters / Hannah McKay

By Megan Revell and William Schomberg

LONDON (Reuters) – Attackers drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in the nearby Borough Market area of bars and restaurants on Saturday in what British authorities described as terrorist incidents.

Armed police rushed to the scene and authorities urged Londoners on Twitter to “run, hide, tell” if they were caught in an attack. The BBC cited police as saying there had been more than one fatality.

Britain’s Sun newspaper said seven people were feared killed and that two attackers were shot dead by police near London Bridge; but there was no immediate confirmation of this. Some media reports said police were seeking another attacker.

The attacks come days ahead of a June 8 election and less than two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a pop concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in northern England. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The BBC showed a photograph of two possible London attackers shot by police, one of whom had canisters strapped to his body.

A Reuters reporter said some time after the attack began that he had heard loud bangs near the Borough Market area.

Witnesses described a white van veering into pedestrians near London Bridge and knocking over several people.

“A van came from London Bridge itself, went between the traffic light system and rammed it towards the steps,” a taxi driver told the BBC. “It knocked loads of people down.

“Then three men got out with long blades, 12 inches long and went randomly along Borough High Street stabbing people at random.”

Islamic State earlier on Saturday sent out a call on instant messaging service Telegram urging its followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against “Crusaders” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Similar attacks, in Berlin, Nice, Brussels and Paris, have been carried out by militants over the past couple of years.

“Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism,” Prime Minister Theresa May said.

London’s river Thames police said it was working with the lifeboat rescue service to help evacuate people caught up in the attack, described by police as a terrorist incident.

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to offer U.S. help to Britain. The White House said he had been briefed on the incidents by his national security team.

One woman told Reuters she saw what appeared to be three people with knife wounds and possibly their throats cut at London Bridge at the Thames river. Reuters was unable to immediately verify her account.

People flee as police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

People flee as police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

STABBINGS ON THE STREET

Police said they fired shots after reports of stabbings in the nearby Borough Market area. They also responded to an incident in the Vauxhall area further west, but later said it was unconnected to the van and knife attacks.

Streets around London Bridge and Borough Market, fashionable districts packed with bars and restaurants, would have been busy with people on a Saturday night out. BBC showed dozens of people, evidently caught up in the attack, being escorted through a police cordon with their hands on their heads.

BBC radio said witnesses saw people throwing tables and chairs at the perpetrators of the attack to protect themselves.

One witness told the BBC she saw a speeding white van veering into pedestrians at London Bridge. That witness said the van hit five to six people. Reuters television pictures showed dozens of emergency vehicles in the area around London Bridge.

The incident bore similarities to a March attack on Westminster Bridge, west of London Bridge, in which a man killed five people after driving into a crowd of pedestrians before stabbing a police officer in the grounds of parliament.

Several witnesses also reported hearing gunshots.

“We were in an Uber (taxi) going towards London Bridge and suddenly we saw people running. The Uber stopped, we asked people what was going on – people said there was shooting,” said Yoann Belmere, 40, a French banker living in London.

“Now the area is completely closed with police cars going one way and ambulances going the other,” he told Reuters.

A witness told CNN two men had entered a restaurant in the Borough Market area near London Bridge and stabbed two people inside. He said a waitress was stabbed in the throat and a man was stabbed in the back.

The Manchester bombing on May 22 was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.

Idle buses are seen from the west side of London Bridge after an incident in the area in London, Britain June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

Idle buses are seen from the west side of London Bridge after an incident in the area in London, Britain June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Nick Tattersall; additional reporting by Ralph Boulton, David Milliken and Paul Sandle; Editing by William Schomberg and Ralph Boulton)

Police videos show chaotic scenes of Florida nightclub massacre

FILE PHOTO - Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials walk through the parking lot of the Pulse gay night club, the site of a mass shooting days earlier, in Orlando, Florida, U.S. on June 15, 2016. REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo

(Reuters) – Police body camera videos of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history were released by a Florida newspaper on Wednesday, showing harrowing scenes of officers rushing into the Orlando nightclub where 49 people were killed in June 2016.

Among the 15 hours of videos obtained through a public records request by the Orlando Sentinel is a scene of officers firing toward gunman Omar Mateen and one officer yelling: “Come out with your hands up or you will die.”

Portions of the videos were posted on the newspaper’s website. Footage of those who died was not shown.

As police neared the cornered gunman, one officer said a prayer to himself: “Lord Jesus, watch over me,” the paper reported.

Mateen, a 29-year-old who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, opened fire inside Pulse, a gay nightclub, on June 12, 2016, before he was killed by police after a three-hour standoff. In addition to those killed, at least 58 people were injured.

The videos released to the newspaper show officers arriving on the scene, taking weapons out of their vehicles and entering the club through a shattered window.

People in the club can be seen fleeing, with officers telling them to keep their hands up and directing them to safety.

A body camera on Orlando policeman Graham Cage shows an officer leading a victim out of a club bathroom and down a hallway, the paper said.

“Hands up, both hands, put your hands up,” the officer says off-camera. “Follow the sound of my voice. Come this way.”

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Driver indicted in deadly Times Square attack, crash

FILE PHOTO: A vehicle that struck pedestrians and later crashed is seen on the sidewalk in Times Square in New York City, U.S., May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A grand jury has indicted the driver charged with killing a young woman and injuring 22 people when he careened through three blocks in New York City’s crowded Times Square, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Richard Rojas, 26, is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on July 13.

Authorities say Rojas drove his Honda sedan down Seventh Avenue on May 18, made a U-turn and mowed down pedestrians on the packed sidewalk for three city blocks before crashing. Alyssa Elsman, an 18-year-old woman from Michigan, was killed.

The driver was subdued by onlookers and police as he tried to flee on foot.

The charges in the indictment were not immediately made public. Rojas, who did not appear at the Wednesday hearing, was previously charged with second-degree murder, vehicular homicide and multiple counts of attempted murder.

His defense lawyer, Enrico Demarco, declined to comment after the brief hearing.

Rojas, who served in the Navy, told the New York Post in a tearful jailhouse interview last week that he had unsuccessfully sought psychiatric care, and said he had no recollection of the incident.

He was believed to be under the influence of some intoxicating substance, a police source has told Reuters, while law enforcement officials told ABC News he was apparently high on synthetic marijuana.

Rojas has had numerous run-ins with the law over the past decade, according to Navy and public court records. He has had at least four prior arrests, two for drunken driving, and one earlier this month for allegedly threatening another man with a knife outside his apartment in New York City’s Bronx borough.

While serving in the Navy in 2013, he spent two months in a military jail in South Carolina, though records do not indicate why.

Of the 13 attack victims Bellevue Hospital received, nine have been released, the health provider said in a statement on Wednesday. One of the remaining patients is in critical condition, another is in serious condition and the other two are in fair or good shape, it said.

The last of six victims sent to Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospitals was released on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.

(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

Brazil’s Temer deploys army as protesters battle police

Demonstrators take part in a protest against Brazilian President Michel Temer and the latest corruption scandal to hit the country, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

By Alonso Soto and Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Protesters demanding the resignation of Brazilian President Michel Temer staged running battles with police and set fire to a ministry building in Brasilia on Wednesday, prompting the scandal-hit leader to order the army onto the streets.

Police unleashed volleys of tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to halt tens of thousands of protesters as they marched towards Congress to call for Temer’s ouster and an end to his austerity program.

Masked protesters fired powerful fireworks at police, set ablaze furniture in the Agriculture Ministry, and sprayed anti-Temer graffiti on government buildings.

It was the most violent protest in Brasilia since anti-government demonstrations in 2013 and fueled a political crisis sparked by allegations Temer condoned paying off a potential witness in a massive corruption probe.

The scandal has raised chances Brazil could see a second president fall in less than a year.

Police cordons held back protesters from advancing on the modernistic Congress building where the main ally in Temer’s coalition, the PSDB party, met to discuss whether to continue backing him and prepare for a post-Temer transition.

One protestor was shot and wounded, police said. Local media reported at least one other demonstrator was seriously injured by a rubber bullet to the face, while another lost part of his hand while trying to throw an explosive device at officers. The city government said 49 people were hurt.

Temer approved a decree allowing army troops to assist police in restoring order in Brasilia for the next week, giving soldiers policing powers and the right to make arrests. His office said Temer turned to the military after police were overwhelmed.

The move brought immediate criticism in a nation where memories of a brutal 1964-85 military dictatorship remain fresh.

“What are they going to do? Intervene and wage war against the people that are out there on the esplanade?” Senator Gleisi Hoffmann of the opposition Workers’ Party said on the Senate floor.

“TEMER IS NO LONGER GOVERNING”

Temer, a former vice president whose government’s approval rating is in the single digits, took office a year ago after former President Dilma Rousseff was impeached for breaking budgetary laws.

Rousseff and her supporters labeled that a “coup” orchestrated by Temer and his allies in an effort to halt a sweeping, three-year corruption probe that has placed scores of sitting politicians under investigation.

Temer defiantly refused to resign last week after the Supreme Court opened an investigation into the hush-money allegations made in plea-bargain testimony by executives at meatpacking giant JBS SA.

The accusations pummeled Brazilian financial markets on doubts Congress would pass government austerity measures meant to pull Brazil out of its worst-ever recession

Temer could be removed from office by Brazil’s top electoral court which meets on June 6 to decide whether to annul the 2014 election victory by the Rousseff-Temer ticket for using illegal money to fund their campaign.

If that happens, Congress would have 30 days to pick a successor to lead Brazil until elections late next year.

The parties of Temer’s main allies are split over whether to quit his coalition immediately or first agree on a consensus figure to replace him and save his reform agenda. The market-friendly measures are considered vital to restore business credibility and investment needed to end a two-year recession.

The PSDB, Brazil’s third largest party, announced it was staying in the government for now to make sure an orderly transition was in place if Temer has to go, party leader, Senator Tasso Jereissati, told reporters after meeting with lawmakers.

Outside, the message demonstrators chanted was clear: “Out with Temer!, general election now!”

Sonia Fleury, a political analyst at think tank FGV, said more violent protests can be expected in a country where discontent with a discredited political establishment is rife.

“We are in a very deep crisis. Temer is no longer governing. Anything he does, like call out soldiers, can only make things worse,” she said.

Unions were galvanized by opposition to a bill that would cut their power in the workplace by allowing temporary non-unionized contracts and ending obligatory payment of union dues.

“Temer can’t stay and these reforms that trample on our rights cannot advance. We want elections now,” said Dorivaldo Fernandes, 56, member of a health workers union in the neighboring state of Goias.

Leftist senators, who on Tuesday succeeded in obstructing discussion of the labor reform bill, read out a constitutional amendment in committee that would allow early general elections instead of waiting until October 2018.

But chances of changing the constitution in the midst of a political crisis were minimal.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto and Anthony Boadle; Additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia and Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo; Writing by Anthony Boadle and Brad Brooks; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Andrew Hay)

Manchester bomber was part of a network: police

Messages and floral tributes left for the victims of the attack on Manchester Arena lie around the statue in St Ann's Square in central Manchester, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jon Super

By Michael Holden and Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – The Manchester suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children was part of a network, the city’s chief of police said on Wednesday as troops deployed across Britain to help prevent further attacks.

Police made four new arrests and searched an address in central Manchester. A source said investigators were hunting for accomplices who may have helped build the suicide bomb and who could be ready to kill again.

“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” police chief Ian Hopkins said outside Manchester police headquarters.

“And as I’ve said, it continues at a pace. There’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak.”

Earlier, interior minister Amber Rudd said the bomber, Salman Abedi, had recently returned from Libya. Her French counterpart Gerard Collomb said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria as well.

Rudd scolded U.S. officials for leaking details about the investigation into the Manchester attack before British authorities were prepared to go public.

The Manchester bombing has raised concern across Europe. Cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St Petersburg, Berlin and London have suffered militant attacks in the last two years.

British-born Abedi, 22, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

His 22 victims included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised to “critical”, the highest level, late on Tuesday, meaning an attack was expected imminently.

But, just over two weeks away from a national election, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives and political parties said they would resume campaigning in the coming days.

SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS

The Manchester bombing was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.

Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, first in London and then elsewhere.

Soldiers were seen at the Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Downing Street residence and at London police headquarters at New Scotland Yard.

A source close to the investigation into the bombing told Reuters that the focus was on whether Abedi had received help in putting together the bomb and on where it had been done.

The BBC reported that security services thought the bomb was too sophisticated for Abedi to have built by himself.

Police arrested three people in South Manchester and another in Wigan, a town 17 miles to the west of the city on Wednesday, bringing the total number of arrests related to the attack to five. Police said they were assessing a package carried by the man in Wigan.

A man arrested on Tuesday was reported by British and U.S. media to be Abedi’s brother. A different brother was also arrested in Tripoli on suspicion of links to Islamic State, local counter-terrorism police said.

Police also said that they had searched an address in central Manchester as part of the investigation.

In London, the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a draw for tourists, was canceled because it requires support from police officers, which authorities decided was not a good use of police resources given the threat level.

Chelsea soccer club said it had canceled a victory parade that had been scheduled to take place on Sunday to celebrate its Premier League title.

Several high-profile sporting events are coming up in Britain, including the soccer FA Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium and the English rugby club competition final at Twickenham on Saturday and the UEFA Champions League final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on June 3.

U.S. LEAKS “IRRITATING”

Britain also has a national election scheduled for June 8. All campaigning was suspended after the attack, although major parties said they would resume some activities on Thursday and national-level campaigning on Friday.

The government said a minute’s silence would be held at all official buildings at 1000 GMT on Thursday.

Greater Manchester Police said they were now confident they knew the identity of all the people who lost their lives and had made contact with all the families. They said they would formally name the victims after forensic post-mortems, which would take four or five days.

The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.

Rudd was asked by the BBC about the fact that information about Abedi, including his name, had come out of the United States before it was cleared by British authorities.

“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again.”

France, which has repeatedly been hit by devastating militant attacks since 2015, extended emergency powers.

(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan in London, Writing by Estelle Shirbon and William James, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Turkey orders arrest of scores of municipality, ministry staff: media

U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller/File Photo

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish authorities ordered the detention of 139 staff from Ankara municipalities and two ministries in an investigation targeting supporters of the U.S.-based cleric accused of being behind last July’s failed coup, CNN Turk said on Wednesday.

Since the attempted putsch, authorities have jailed pending trial 50,000 people and sacked or suspended 150,000 from a wide range of professions including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links to what the government calls terrorist organizations.

Detention warrants on Wednesday were issued for 60 staff at the Ankara city council, 19 at district councils, 30 staff at the development ministry and 30 at the education ministry, broadcaster CNN Turk said.

The cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for almost 20 years, has denied involvement in the putsch.

Ankara accuses Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan, of infiltrating Turkish institutions, including the judiciary, police and military in a decades-long campaign. Government critics say the post-coup crackdown has been used to crush dissent.

State-run Anadolu news agency said the municipality staff, some of whom had previously been dismissed from their jobs, were found to have used ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk and Richard Lough)