17 dead in China restaurant fire: authorities

Authorities said the cause of the incident is under investigation.

A fire at a restaurant in northeastern China on Wednesday killed 17 people and injured three, according to local authorities.

17 dead in China restaurant fire: authorities. The blaze broke out at 12:40 pm (0440 GMT) in an eatery in the city of Changchun, the local government said in a statement posted on the Weibo social media platform.

Firefighters “rushed to the scene” and completed search and rescue work by 3 pm, the statement said.

“The injured have been sent to hospital for treatment while posthumous care for the victims is being carried out,” it added.

Authorities said the cause of the incident is under investigation.

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While at least four Palestinians were killed and 44 wounded during an Israeli military raid Wednesday into the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported, marking the deadliest episode since Israel escalated a crackdown on the occupied territory earlier this year.

Israeli forces said they fatally shot two Palestinians they had been sent to arrest in the camp over their suspected involvement in recent shooting attacks. When soldiers surrounded a house in the camp, an explosive device detonated, a gunfight ensued and Israeli troops killed the two Palestinians, the military said.

During the raid, armed clashes broke out in the camp as militants hurled rocks and opened fire at arriving troops. The violence killed another two Palestinians and wounded at least 44 others, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party identified one of the men killed in the clashes as a 24-year-old Palestinian intelligence officer named Ahmed Alawneh. The party called for protests and a general strike in the West Bank over what it described as a “dangerous escalation.”

Jenin in the northern West Bank — long considered a bastion of Palestinian militancy and frequent flashpoint for violence — is governed by the Palestinian Authority like most other Palestinian urban centers, even though the Israeli military routinely carries out arrest raids in the area.