A plane carrying hundreds of hajj pilgrims back from Saudi Arabia was diverted in Indonesia on Tuesday after an email bomb threat was sent to authorities, Indonesia’s aviation body said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it received a report from Indonesia’s airport operator “regarding a bomb threat sent by an unidentified person via electronic mail”.

The email at 07:30 am (0030 GMT) contained a threat to “blow up” Saudia Airlines flight SV 5276 which was flying from the Saudi city of Jeddah to the Indonesian capital Jakarta, it said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Saudi Uses AI, Drones And Thousands Of Cameras To Keep Hajj Pilgrims Safe

After 10:00 am the pilot diverted the plane from its destination of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, a city on Sumatra island in western Indonesia.

The flight was carrying 442 hajj pilgrims, including 207 men and 235 women, it added.

“Upon identifying security and safety threats, the pilot decided to divert the landing to the nearest airport,” said In Journey Airports, Indonesia’s airport operator.

A transport ministry official told AFP the plane was still in Medan and Flightradar24 showed the plane there.

The airport evacuated the pilgrims and a bomb disposal unit swept the plane for explosive devices, the aviation body said in its statement.

AFP

Russia launched dozens of drones and missiles at Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens of others, as negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow broke down.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the latest overnight barrage as “one of the most horrific attacks” on Kyiv since the Kremlin launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

Zelensky said a total of 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched in the strikes nationwide and urged the international community not to “turn a blind eye”.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on,” he said.

AFP journalists saw smoke billowing over the capital’s skyline at dawn and a multiple-storey housing block gutted by the attack. Rescue workers were scrambling to find any survivors buried beneath the rubble.

READ ALSO: Russian Strikes Kill Five In Ukraine

“It was probably the most hellish night in my memory for our neighbourhood,” 20-year-old student Alina Shtompel told AFP.

“It is indescribably painful that our people are going through this right now.”

More than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has stepped up attacks despite efforts by the United States to broker a ceasefire.

Talks have stalled. Moscow has rejected the “unconditional” truce demanded by Kyiv and its European allies, while Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s demands as “ultimatums”.

– Diplomatic ‘facade’ –

Zelensky had been hoping to speak with US leader Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, but the US leader cut short his visit, amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

Russia hit some 27 sites in Kyiv overnight and some residents were left without electricity, officials said.

READ ALSO: Zelensky Slams Russia After Three Generations Killed In Drone Strike

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, updated an earlier toll of 14 dead, saying two people had been pulled from the rubble at the scene of one strike.

“The search continues, as there may still be people under the ruins,” he said.

One person was also killed and 10 wounded in the southern port city of Odesa, while attacks on the Sumy and Kherson regions later in the day killed two others, authorities said.

The Russian defence ministry said it had carried out precision strikes on “military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv region,” in a statement similar to those releases after major attacks.

Germany vowed in response to “increase the pressure” on Russia. The strike showed that “Russia is using diplomacy merely as a facade,” the foreign ministry wrote on X.

“Putin doesn’t want a solution, he wants capitulation.”

READ ALSO: Trump Says Putin ‘Playing With Fire’ In New Jab At Russian Leader

– US citizen dead –

Dozens of residents took shelter in a metro station in central Kyiv, sleeping on mats, exchanging information on attack or reassuring pets, AFP journalists reported, while drones buzzed and explosions echoed out over the city.

“I was asleep. There was a loud bang. The window was smashed, and glass rained down on me,” Sergii, another Kyiv resident, said.

Residential buildings, educational institutions and “critical infrastructure facilities” were all hit, Interior Minister, Igor Klymenko.

Kyiv’s mayor reported earlier that a 62-year-old US citizen had died in a Russian strike on the capital’s Solomyansky district.

READ ALSO: Pope Offer To Host Russia-Ukraine Talks Welcomed By International Leaders

Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the new attacks showed Moscow was “continuing its war against civilians”.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to independent monitors and Western intelligence agencies.

Russian forces have been steadily advancing across the sprawling front line even since the inauguration of Trump brought about an uptick in US efforts to secure a halt in fighting.

AFP

More than 600 foreign nationals have crossed from Iran into neighbouring Azerbaijan since Israel began striking the country last Friday, a government official in Baku said.

“Since the start of the military escalation between Israel and Iran, more than 600 citizens of 17 countries have been evacuated from Iran via Azerbaijan,” the government source told AFP on Tuesday.

The evacuees, who crossed the border via the Astara checkpoint on the Caspian Sea coast, are being transported to Baku airport and “flown to their home countries on international flights,” the source said.

Among those evacuated are citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as Germany, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Vietnam.

READ ALSO: Iran, Israel Need ‘To Fight It Out’ To Reach Deal – Trump

Azerbaijan shut its land borders in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has kept them closed ever since.

“In light of the evacuation need, Azerbaijan has temporarily opened its border for those leaving Iran,” the official said.

Poland’s foreign ministry said it would evacuate part of its embassy staff in Tehran via Baku.

“We have decided to evacuate or support the departure of staff who do not need to remain in the country, so-called non-essential personnel,” Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Moscicka-Dendys told reporters.

READ ALSO: Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump

“Our colleagues will try to reach the border with Azerbaijan,” she said, without specifying how many people were involved.

Turkmenistan — one of the world’s most closed-off countries — said it had also allowed the transit of around 120 people evacuated from Iran through its territory, mainly citizens of Central Asian countries.

Israel has launched unprecedented strikes on Iran since Friday, saying it aims to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon — a goal Iran denies pursuing.

The Israeli attacks have killed at least 224 people and wounded more than 1,000, according to an official toll released Sunday.

In retaliation, Iran has carried out multiple attacks that have killed at least 24 people in Israel since Friday, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

AFP