2 killed in shooting at Swiss café, attackers at large

March 10, 2017

Geneva, Mar 10: Two men shot dead two people and seriously injured a third on Thursday at a cafe in Basel, north-west Switzerland, police said as they hunt for the suspects.

"Two men came into Cafe 56" around 8.15 pm local time (1915 GMT) "and fired several rounds of shots," police said in a statement, without providing information on a possible motive.

"Two customers were killed. Another is in a critical condition."

The assailants were on the run following the shooting, according to police, who said they had headed in the direction of the railway station after the attack.

"The reason behind the attack is not yet known and will be investigated," the Basel prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Police have asked anyone with information regarding the incident to come forward.

The road next to the cafe has been cordoned off and traffic redirected.

A bullet hole was visible in one of the windows of the establishment, a small cafe in a residential neighbourhood.

An AFP photographer at the scene saw police dressed in white forensic garb collecting evidence at the site.

"Cafe 56 doesn't have a bad reputation," a neighbourhood resident told local newspaper Basler Zeitung.

"It was previously an establishment known for its links to the drug world, but since the owner changed several years ago it became an ordinary cafe," the paper quoted another resident as saying.

Gun crime is infrequent in Switzerland, even though the country has one of the highest rates of firearm ownership in the world.

Citizens are allowed to keep their army-issue weapons at home outside periods of mandatory military service.

This right has been controversial as sometimes weapons are used at home in domestic incidents.

The number of weapons held at home is believed to be two million for a population of eight million, according to Swiss press.

In January, a man clad in military clothing shot and injured two police officers as they searched his home in northeast Switzerland for a suspected cannabis plantation.

The gunman fled but was eventually cornered and after a standoff lasting several hours, which included negotiations over the telephone, he shot himself dead.

Police searching his home found gun publications.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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