NEW DELHI (AP) — A senior politician in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, who was also known for his close ties with Bollywood has been shot dead weeks before a key state election.
Baba Siddique, 66, was shot multiple times outside his son’s office in Mumbai on Saturday night, police said in a statement. He later succumbed to his wounds at the city’s Lilavati Hospital.
Siddique was associated with the Indian National Congress party for decades but had recently joined a regional party that rules Maharashtra state. He was also close to several Bollywood superstars and was known for throwing lavish parties.
Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is from the same political party as Siddique, said he was shocked by the killing.
“The incident will be thoroughly investigated and strict action will be taken against the attackers. The mastermind behind the attack will also be traced,” Pawar said in a statement.
News agency Press Trust of India reported that two suspected attackers had been arrested, and police were searching for another.
Broadcaster NDTV said the two suspects claimed they were part of a crime gang that has carried out multiple killings in the past.
Elections in Maharashtra state are expected to be held in November.
A police person sits below a large hoarding showing a portrait in red turban of Baba Siddique, a senior politician, at the spot where Siddique was shot at outside his son's office in Mumbai and later succumbed to his wounds in a hospital on Saturday night, in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Marks made by a forensic team of the Mumbai police are visible on the spot where Baba Siddique, a senior politician, was shot at outside his son's office in Mumbai and later succumbed to his wounds in a hospital on Saturday night, in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Mumbai police personnel stand guard outside the residence of Baba Siddique, a senior politician, who was shot at outside his son's office in Mumbai and later succumbed to his wounds in a hospital on Saturday night, in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark.
Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. The daytime temperature in the capital was -12 C (around 10 F). The streets were covered with ice, and the city rumbled with the noise from generators.
Four days earlier, Russia also sent hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack and, for only the second time in the war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in what appeared to be a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies that it won’t back down.
On Monday, the United States accused Russia of a “ dangerous and inexplicable escalation ” of the fighting, when the Trump administration is trying to advance peace negotiations.
Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Washington deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the conflict and condemns Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water in the freezing winter months over the course of the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”
In Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian attack also wounded 10 people, local authorities said.
In the southern city of Odesa, six people were wounded in the attack, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. The strikes damaged energy infrastructure, a hospital, a kindergarten, an educational facility and a number of residential buildings, he said.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is counting on quicker deliveries of agreed upon air defense systems from the U.S. and Europe, as well as new pledges of aid, to counter Russia’s latest onslaught.
Meanwhile, Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Seven were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s Rostov region, where Gov. Yuri Slyusar confirmed an attack on the coastal city of Taganrog, about 40 kilometers (about 24 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, in Kyiv's latest long-range attack on Russian war-related facilities.
Ukraine’s military said domestically-produced drones hit a drone manufacturing facility in Taganrog. The Atlant Aero plant carries out design, manufacturing and testing of Molniya drones and components for Orion unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Explosions and a fire were reported at the site, with damage to production buildings confirmed, the General Staff said.
It wasn't possible to independently verify the reports.
Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
