At around 10:45 a.m. local time, a 20-year-old assailant armed with a pair of scissors stabbed a soldier in the throat in the Piazzale Duca D’Aosta square in front of Milan’s central station. The attacker, whose nationality has not been revealed, reportedly shouted Allahu Akbar’ during the attack. He was captured by police officers as he attempted to escape the scene towards the Via Vittor Pisani Boulevard. Police are investigating whether the attack was terrorism-related.

Yemen-based Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a coordinated drone attack on Saudi Aramco-owned Abqaiq oil processing facility and the Khurais oil field, located about 165 km/102 miles east of the capital Riyadh. According to a Houthi military spokesman, shortly after 4 a.m. local time, the rebels launched 10 drones laden with explosives targeting the facilities simultaneously. The explosions caused large fires and massive damage at both facilities, cutting the kingdom’s oil production by 50%, which accounts for about 5% of the global energy supplies. No casualties were reported in the attacks. While Houti’s attacks on Saudi infrastructure have increased this year, the attack is the largest in terms of financial impact and damage. Despite the Houtis claim of responsibility, some Saudi and US officials allege that Iran staged the attacks using cruise missiles, which Iran deny.

A 47-year-old businessman from the city of Dwarka in the western Gujarat State was intercepted and kidnapped by three men armed with knives at the Sabalpur village as he was driving to his factory in the neighboring city of Junagadh. The trio held the man in his SUV while demanding Rs 5.50 lakh ransom from his brother. The kidnappers instructed the brother to send the money through angadia (people who act as a parallel banking system) or his sibling will be killed.  Despite the threat, the brother immediately contacted the Junagadh taluka police station that coordinated a search for the victim’s vehicle and alerted police in nighboring districts.  Officers manning the Harshad checkpost in Kalyanpur taluka (administrative division) of Devbhoomi Dwarka district intercepted the vehicle hours later rescued the man and arrested the trio. (indiatimes.com, 13 September 2019)

The South African Police Service (SAPS) confirmed that six –year-old Amy-Lee De Jager has been released by her kidnappers in the early morning hours and was reunited with her family. According to her grandfather, her kidnappers released her near an informal settlement in Vanderbijlpark just after 2 a.m. local time. The kidnappers instructed the girl to run across the road in the dark where her mother would be waiting for her. But in fact, there was no one waiting for her and the suspects drove off. Strangers helped her and took her to the nearest police station. No ransom was paid for her safe return, despite a demand for the money. Police continue to gather information hoping to make any arrests. (sapeople.com, 3 September 2019)

A massive search is under way for kidnapped six-year-old Amy-Lee de Jager, daughter of Wynand de Jager an F1 powerboat racer, who was kidnapped from her school in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng province, earlier in the morning. Four men in a white Toyota Fortuner kidnapped the first grader from the gate of the Kollegepark Primary School at around 8 a.m. as her mother dropped her and her five-year-old brother. News of the kidnapping spread on social media with some reports stated that the kidnappers contacted the girl’s father demanding a ransom of R2 million (about US$ 132,500). Though police did not comment about the ransom reports, a family friend has confirmed it to reporters.  (news24.com, 2 September 2019 & 9news.com.au, 3 September 2019)

At around 14:30 local time, an assailant armed with a knife attacked people waiting at a bus stop in Villeurbanne a suburb of Lyon. The attacker than ran towards an underground station before being overpowered by other people and transport staff. One person was killed in the attack and at least nine others were wounded, three of who were in critical condition. The assailant was identified as a 33-year-old Afghan asylum seeker.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle, targeted members of the Security Belt forces--a UAE backed southern separatist fighters-- while on patrol in the Dar Saad neighborhood on the outskirts of the Southern port city of Aden. At least six of the southern separatist fighters were killed in the blast. The separatists and the Yemeni government forces are both part of a Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthi movement, but the separatists broke with the government on August 8, accusing it of ties to Islamists and seized its temporary base of Aden after it was forced out of the capital Sana'a in 2014. The Via its Amaq news agency, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.