NEW DELHI – A Swiss tourist has been left with a fractured skull after he and his girlfriend were attacked near the Taj Mahal during a holiday in India, police and media reports said on Thursday (Oct 26).

A group of men approached the couple near a local railway station and demanded selfies with the woman before attacking them with stones on Sunday, the Times of India daily said.

It said the man suffered a fractured skull while his girlfriend, a 24-year-old Swiss national, had a broken arm and multiple bruises.

Bystanders took videos of the couple on their mobile phones as they lay on the ground after the attack, the paper reported.

Senior officer Amit Pathak told AFP by phone from Agra in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh that police had identified some of the attackers.

“Some of them could be minors, so we are investigating and if they are indeed minors they will be produced in juvenile court as per the law,” said Mr Pathak, senior police superintendent for Agra.

Police officer Pradeep Kumar later said one suspect had been taken in for questioning.

The motive for the attack was not clear, but levels of sexual violence are relatively high in India and many Western countries warn visitors of the risk of attacks.

The Swiss embassy website warns tourists of high levels of crime in India, particularly in popular tourists spots such as Agra, where the country’s most famous monument is located.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said she had sought a report from the state government of Uttar Pradesh over the latest attack and would send representatives to visit the Swiss couple in hospital.

Some social media users criticised Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for failing to provide security to tourists.

“Such a shameful story on the breakdown of law & order in India’s largest state. Is @myogiadityanath listening?” tweeted Milind Deora, a leader of the opposition Congress party.

Others said the incident was a blow to India’s hopes of drawing more tourists to the country, which had just 8.8 million foreign visitors last year according to official data.

Shah Alam, Malaysia – The trial of two women accused of murdering the North Korean leader’s half-brother was Thursday shown CCTV footage of four men suspected of involvement in the assassination at the airport crime scene.

A police officer testified one of the men was believed to have been the “mastermind” in the killing of Kim Jong-Nam on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in a hit that stunned the world.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are on trial accused of carrying out the assassination by rubbing the nerve agent VX on his face.

The pair, who were arrested a few days after the assassination and face death by hanging if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-Un.

They say they were tricked into believing they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show, and South Korea has accused the North of ordering the hit. Pyongyang denies the allegations.

The charge sheet says four other individuals still at large are suspected of murdering Kim along with the women, but does not identify them. Four North Koreans fled Malaysia on the day of the murder.

Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, the main police investigating officer, previously testified the four other suspects were men known to the women by pseudonyms – Mr Y, Mr Chang, Hanamori and James.

CCTV footage of the men at the airport around the time of the murder was shown in court Thursday.

“Hanamori played the role as the mastermind of this incident,” Wan Azirul told the Shah Alam High Court, outside Kuala Lumpur, The officer testified that the video showed Hanamori arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s budget terminal just after 7:30 am and sitting at a table with James.

The other two men are then seen taking it in turns to separately sit down and talk to Hanamori.

The officer said Hanamori, Mr Chang and Mr Y changed their clothes after the attack and then headed to the airport’s main terminal, where they were filmed together in the departure hall.

James was filmed heading to an airport hotel at the main terminal following the attack. He checked out and was later also seen in the terminal’s departure hall.

Wan Azirul previously told the court that two of the men, Mr Chang and Mr Y, met Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29, and put liquid on their hands shortly before Kim was attacked at 9:00 am. 

Jakarta – Nearly two dozen people have been killed and dozens injured in a blaze that tore through a fireworks factory outside the Indonesian capital, police said Thursday, triggering explosions and sending plumes of black smoke into the air.

The fire broke out at an industrial complex in Tangerang, a satellite city of Jakarta.

“There are 103 workers in total at this factory, 43 are injured and being treated in three hospitals, the remains of 23 victims have been found,” Nico Afinta from Jakarta police told Kompas TV.

A firefighter on the scene said the victims had been burned beyond recognition.

“Those who died are completely unrecognisable, totally burnt,” Oni Sahroni told Metro TV.

Parts of the building collapsed after being gutted by the blaze which scorched nearby cars. Witnesses reported hearing two major blasts erupt from the site.

The factory – part of a complex that borders a residential area – had only been operating for six weeks, district government official Toni Rustoni told Metro TV.

The blaze, which broke out in the morning, was brought under control by late afternoon and authorities were working to recover the victims’ bodies from the building.