Guatemala declares state of emergency after armed attacks kill at least 5

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) — Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on Sunday said he had declared a state of emergency in two municipalities in western Guatemala a day after armed men attacked a military post and a police station, cut off roads and hijacked buses, killing at least five people.

Criminal gangs are attempting to force security forces to withdraw in order to take control of the region, Arévalo said. He said his government would reinforce security.

This state of emergency, the first declared by his government, will last for 15 days in the municipalities of Nahuala and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan in the department of Solola.

“We are at a critical moment for the department of Solola and the security of the country,” Arévalo said, accompanied Interior Minister Marco Villeda and José Giovanni Martínez Milán, the acting Defense Minister and head of General Staff.

Arévalo showed videos and photos from Saturday’s events, in which armed men - some dressed in camouflage or military uniforms, wearing helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying high-caliber weapons - can be seen shooting or taking cover just meters away from a busy main road.

The criminal groups are linked to extortion and drug trafficking and pose a threat to the local communities, Arévalo said.

“The communities are not alone,” he said.

Interior Minister Marco Villeda said that five people had died. On Saturday, the director of the National Civil Police, David Botero, said that six people had died, including a soldier.

The incidents are believed to have started last Thursday when armed men attacked the military post, leaving four people wounded at that time.

The two municipalities have had disputes for several decades over water sources and local roads they both claim as their own. These disputes have led to dozens of deaths.

“In this case, there was no attack between the communities. This was an attack on the military post, intentionally and specifically,” Arévalo said.

The state of emergency limits the rights to open-air meetings, public demonstrations and events. It allows for the dissolution by force of any unauthorized gatherings, groups, or public demonstrations, particularly those involving weapons or violent acts.

It also limits the right to protests that affect free movement or public services, which can be forcibly dissolved, and restricts the right to carry weapons.

People bury victims in a mass grave following an attack by armed men on a military post and a police station in Nahuala, Guatemala, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariano Rosales)

People bury victims in a mass grave following an attack by armed men on a military post and a police station in Nahuala, Guatemala, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariano Rosales)

People bury victims in a mass grave following an attack by armed men on a military post and a police station in Nahuala, Guatemala, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariano Rosales)

People transport a coffin following an attack by armed men on a military post and a police station in Nahuala, Guatemala, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariano Rosales)

People bury victims in a mass grave following an attack by armed men on a military post and a police station in Nahuala, Guatemala, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariano Rosales)

FILE - Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo gives a press conference in Guatemala City, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)

SYDNEY (AP) — A bystander seen in a widely circulated video disarming a gunman during a deadly shooting rampage at a popular Australian beach is being heralded as a hero who saved lives.

Video footage posted to social media shows a passerby dressed in a white T-shirt and dark pants crouching behind a parked car before sneaking up behind a gunman, grabbing him and wrestling away his firearm. The bystander then points the weapon at the gunman, who falls to the ground.

The intervention drew wide praise, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called it the “most unbelievable scene.”

“A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people,” Minns said. “That man is a genuine hero.”

The bystander was identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed by 7NEWS Australia, which interviewed his cousin.

He was shot twice, with wounds to his arm and hand and needed to undergo surgery, according to the cousin identified by the news outlet as Mustafa. He said his cousin is a fruit shop owner and father of two from Sydney.

“We hope he will be fine," Mustafa said. "He’s a hero. One hundred percent, he’s a hero.”

New South Wales Police acknowledged the bystander’s actions, but could not confirm his identity. “Inquiries are continuing and we are still endeavoring to identify all involved,” police said in an e-mailed statement.

Two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounded dozens of others. The attack is being called an act of antisemitic terrorism.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)