Teenager killed in Maldives capital

A 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death around 2am Thursday amid a spike in gang violence in the capital.

Ismail Shaffan Shareef was stabbed in the neck during a fight between rival gangs. He passed away while undergoing treatment at the ADK hospital, according to media reports.

Four suspects were arrested shortly after the stabbing.

The teenage victim, from the Seenu Feydhoo Heenaamage house, was a seventh grade student in a Malé school.

The burial will take place at the Malé cemetery after Zuhr prayer on Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday afternoon, a 26-year-old man was assaulted near the Giyasuddin School in Malé. Later that night, five young men were arrested with knives on suspicion of preparing for a gang fight.

They were reportedly taken into custody from the petrol shed in Malé’s eastern waterfront after they attempted to flee when they saw police officers.

A young man who was stabbed near the Olympus theatre Monday night remains hospitalised.

Several stabbings, believed to have been reprisals between rival gangs, occurred in both the capital and the southernmost atoll during the past few months.

On August 31, Ibrahim Agil was stabbed to death near the central bank building, a short distance from the police and military headquarters in the capital’s Republic Square.

A 25-year-old man was stabbed eight times on August 7, while a 22-year-old man was stabbed in the head on August 3.

More recently, a 22-year old man was stabbed during a gang fight in Addu City last Saturday. The victim remains in the intensive care unit at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in the capital.

Photo of crime scene from Raajje.mv