you are watching al jazeera, explosion in a mosque in saudi arabia during friday prayers, several people have been killed or injured. i'm jane also in the program refugees fled violence in burundi are dying of cholera in tanzania and now the camps run out of space. they seize the last remaining border post between syria and iraq. island votes in europe's first

referendum on same sex marriage. ♪ a suicide bomber has hit a shia mosque in eastern saudi arabia during friday prayers. the blast happened in the ali mosque in the province of kaltif which is home to a shia minority and several people are beliefs to have been killed or wounded and let's find out more about what actually happened and speak live in riyadh and what are you hearing? >> reporter: jane eyewitnesses say the people were praying in a mosque in the eastern province and home to the minority in saudi arabia when an explosion went off. the saudi interior said this was an explosion but said they need time to further investigate the

case. however, eyewitnesses say that it was a suicide bombing attack and that at the time of their friday prayers there were about 100, almost 120 worshippers in the mosque and say that people were killed and expect that number to climb. however, there has been some pictures circulated by people in the area on social media showing shattered glass and also bodies covered in the courtyard of the mosque. now, this is an area where there has been in the past tension between security forces and the shia minority but it's also an area where groups have launched attacks in the past against worshippers and against security forces and against foreigners the official line in saudi arabia is not these but the groups are trying to target shia minority in the east to stoke

the sectarian sentiment in saudi arabia. >> all right thank you for that update. saudi citizen has been killed by a shell fired from inside yemen. three others were wounded on the attack of border town. in yemen the saudi-led coalition bombed a military site by sanaa airport and targeting houthi positions. five gunmen and forces with saleh have been killed and explosions heard in the areas where the fighting is taking place. iran cargo ship with aid bound for yemen arrived in djibouti and foreign minister says once the ship that is carrying food and medical supplies has fully docked it will unload its entire cargo in djibouti and aid will be taken by the world health

organization to the port under houthi control. i.s.i.l. has taken control of the last remaining government-held border post between syria and iraq and the group's resent gains in both countries prompted cause in the united states and told washington to rethink its strategy and we report from baghdad. >> reporter: some of these men will be sent deep in the sunni heart land to fight i.s.i.l. others will stay behind to protect it a strategic town that islamic state of iraq and levante tried to control in the past and for the shia men it's not about territory but protecting roots from anbar and southern iraq for attack to advance on holy sites and neighboring sites. >> translator: i volunteered to join this battle to protect our holy shrines and we don't want i.s.i.l. to advance further and

threaten the holy sites. >> reporter: a controversial decision to use shia malitia men in a sunni providence and government had no choice because regular forces are weak and efforts to create a nonsectarian army have failed and we have the gate to the mainly shia province and also lies on a junction with roads south to saudi arabia. north to anbar capitol ramadi where there are highways to iraqi capitol baghdad and to neighboring jordan and syria. ooims ooims -- i.s.i.l. has captured syria and iraq and volunteers and fighters move between the two countries. the u.s. has down played the gains and president barack obama has said that the loss of territory were tactical setbacks and he insists that the war is not being lost. but many disagree. i.s.i.l. has taken over two cities in a week. ramadi and iraq and palmyra in

syria. ramadi is 100 kilometers from baghdad. it is also the last major city on the road to the iraqi capitol. and palmyra is 150 kilometers from syria providence of homs which is on a major cross road that is strategic for survival and invests man power over the years to reclaim opposition, if it loses there damascus and coastal region would be under threat but for now i.s.i.l. controls the land between palmyra to ramadi. in iraq the fight against the armed group is led by shia malitia, in syria the u.s. led coalition doesn't recognize the government's legitimacy and also doesn't have a partner on the ground. over resent months i.s.i.l. may have been on the defensive, that has now changed. dana with al jazeera in baghdad. the u.s. led coalition against i.s.i.l. says it is probably responsible for

civilians deaths from air strikes in syria. the statement issued by the u.s. central command says a strike in the village near aleppo six months ago did likely lead to the deaths of two children. air wars who monitor the coalition air strikes said one of the children killed was five years old. tanzania is struggling with a humanitarian crisis and tens of thousands fled burundi and crammed into transit centers and refugee camps and aid agency say there is not enough space and conditions are appalling and at least 33 people have died of cholera and kim has the story. >> reporter: they fled their homes in search of say -- safety but the journey has just begun, on 100-year-old fishing boat refugees are moved south of the border, a stadium turned transit center is their next stop.

it was two days traveling and we had to walk long distances and police could stop us on the way and when we crossed the border to tanzania the police made it difficult. >> reporter: weeks of cramped conditions and poor sanitation is wreaking havoc and many arrive with acute diarrhea and others cholera and brought to makeshift centers and pumped with saline. >> all acute diarrhea cases at the moment are treated as if they are cholera and the message which you confirm it is you have to take samples and send them to a lab so it's quite a time consuming process. >> reporter: from here another three hours inland their final destination by a refugee camp which is almost at capacity. cholera has been confirmed in each of the three stops and hundreds of refugees with potentially life threatening dehydration are coming forward daily and more refugees arriving here by the day.

and the small fishing village where they first arrived is overwhelmed and 25,000 refugees have been moved on from here but 35,000 remain. burundi people who went to tanzania are given refugee status on arrival and where to live and how to make a living will come next and now it's on safety and survival kim with al jazeera. renewed violence in south sudan is worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country and fighting between government troops and rebel fighters in upper nile have forced thousands to leave including some aid agencies and paul is with doctors without borders, he is head of the mission in south sudan and explains while the crisis is deepening people in south sudan are receiving no humanitarian assistance. >> the increase in violence in the three states that you mentioned, upper nile, unity and one other is causing a horrible

humanitarian situation and we vacuum waited teams and closed projects. my national staff in the town of lar left lar on saturday saturday lunchtime, because they were scared. they have run into the bush. three of my staff had telephones and were contacting us. we were not calling them they were calling us. one of them has stopped calling. his friend who is still in contact with us tried to call his satellite telephone and told us the phone is ringing but nobody is answering yet and we don't know if he is alive or dead and the staff member still in contact with us was hiding on an island when armed men came on the island and started shooting at women and children who were hiding there and he ran in the swamp. as he was running, rocket propelled grenade round hit the water next to him and thankfully didn't explode and he hid in the water for nine hours before he

was comfortable enough and felt safe enough to go back to dry land and on his bay he collected the bodies of two small children who had been caught. >> the fact that aid agencies like you that make such a difference to people who need it are no longer there, what is your predictions as far as the humanitarian situation is concerned and how bad is it likely to get? >> people that have been displaced in this round of fighting have been left their homes at time when they should be planting crops and planting food. this is the start of what would be called the hunger gap when people run out of food and waiting for the next crops to be harvested. so if they are displaced they are not finding food and they will be short of food now and in the future and receiving little humanitarian access and no food and shelter and no access to clean water or food, it's extremely concerning. >> do you have a better understanding of what is going

on? i mean, who is behind these attacks, why they are attacking the people that they are attacking? >> the conflict is being fought consistently for 1 1/2 years now. we treat the ill people. we treat the wounded if we can have access to them from all sides, we don't investigate who is causing the fighting. >> voters in ireland are taking part in a historic referendum and being asked whether to amend the constitution to allow same sex couples to get married. gay couples are already allowed to sign civil partnerships but friday's vote could make island the first country in the world to allow gay marriage by popular vote, gerald tan has more. >> reporter: republic of ireland is holding the first world referendum on same sex marriage and asked to vote a simple "yes" or "no" to this question marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex. it's a huge step for the

predominately catholic country. roughly 80% of the 4 1/2 million people in ireland are catholic. in 1993 ireland became the last nation in western europe to decriminalize homosexuality and it introduced civil partnerships only four years ago. gay marriage is currently legal in 19 countries seen here in order of when it was approved. starting with the netherlands in 2001 but there was no public vote in any of them. the law was just changed. ireland's 1937 constitution requires public approval for any amendments and all that is required is a simple majority of referendum votes for the marriage law to change. still ahead on al jazeera the once pristine sands of this california beach have now been soaked with oil after a massive spill. and chile's president tries to get her former agenda back on track been outside

anti-government protesters were not let off so easy. ♪

thanks for joining us and reminder of the top stories on al jazeera, several people believes to be dead or injured after a suicide bomber struck at a mosque in eastern saudi arabia. the blast happened at the ali mosque in the province of qatif home to a shia minority. tanzamia coping with

humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of burundi people crowd in centers and the cholera outbreak killed at least 33 people, voters in ireland taking part in a historic referendum and asked whether to amend the constitution to allow same sex couples to marry. myanmar navy detained more than 200 people that arrived in the state in a boat. thousands of rohingyas flees persecution of myanmar and traveled to indonesia, malaysia and tie land in the last few week answer the vessel came from thailand and the people on board are from bangladesh, florence is live now and tell us more about this boat and what is going to be done to those on board. >> reporter: well the myanmar navy says it helped the boat to shore on thursday afternoon and this took place near the north part of rakine state on

bangladesh border and 20 # people found on the boat are from bangladesh and crew members as well and the boat is believes to belong to a thai person. now, it says it provided humanitarian assistance to needed it, food and water and we expect and believe the people will be repatriated soon and the government said it's ready to provide humanitarian assistance to boat people who need it but still no indication from the myanmar government that it acknowledges that it is part of the problem. now at least half of the people who washed ashore in places like malaysia and indonesia say they are rohingya from myanmar and rakin state and myanmar but the government does not acknowledge that in fact we had officials tell us these people claim they are from myanmar simply because they believe it's easier for them to get refugee status and get aid. >> thank you for that florence is live.

rob mcbribe reports now on how people in malaysia helping to provide food to asylum seekers. >> reporter: a number of aid organizations and ngo are lining um behind the government efforts which is community effort to get the kind of aid that the migrants are likely to need. we have been following around a group going around this island buying up the absolute essentials, instant food and instant noodles and biscuits and most important water that the migrant boats are likely to need as they come from maybe months at sea. other more substantial aid will come later on. the idea is that all of this food is then held by the maritime services here and then go out to meet migrant boats as they come in. and in the past when this migrant boat crisis first began these groups may have got in trouble with authorities and they were after all considered to be illegal migrants you cannot go out and start giving

them aid and asking them to come ashore and now they are encouraged to come up with essentials and have come up with food aid like this to help these people as they do come ashore. >> we were told to stand by with a provision because it could be at any time so we are glad that they have opened up the doors for ngo such as us and also the people who want to come in and actually contribute for this aid. >> reporter: both malaysia and indonesia committed themselves to providing assistance for up to 7,000 migrant newcomers and the question is what happens if they are confronted by many more than that but the most immediate concerns are providing help for the people thought to be out in the sea. the world bank is warning gaza's economy is on the verge of collapse and the unemployment rate there is now the highest in the world. and the u.n. middle east envoy has warned the gaza strip could

implode after last year's war with israel and we report. >> reporter: for weeks mohamed has been clearing rubble from what is left of his home. it was all but destroyed during israel's 50 day bombardment of the gaza strip last year. since the war ended he and seven members of his apartment have been renting this apartment in gaza city for $300 but with no work they can no longer afford it. >> translator: we lost hope and no one helping to rebuild and clearing rebel to set up a tent to live in, see how we suffer. >> reporter: u.n. middle east envoy warned the people of gaza are desperate and angry about their plight it could lead to implosion and that the leaders need to do more to prevent that

from happening. across gaza there are signs people have given up hope of receiving help. this heavy machinery being used to clear rubble was paid for by residents of the bombed out neighborhood from their own pocket but frustration here goes far beyond help and reconstruction and many are angry at the ongoing political infighting between palestinian factions and israel tightening blockade egypt cloelssing of the border crossing and failing to deliver on promises and they took the media on a tour of an apartment that was reconstructed from funding from islamic development bank at 420 partially damaged housing units were reconstructed through the project providing homes for more than a thousand families but all agree it's not enough. >> the longer it takes for people to get their lives together again the more dangerous it is that their

situation again, they will move towards more negative scenario because the people feel they have nothing to lose and people will act accordingly. >> reporter: for mohamed all he wants is a proper home for his family. something he says he is willing to fight for if left with little other choice. al jazeera, gaza. a grand jury in the u.s. city of baltimore has confirmed charges against six police officers over the death of freddie gray the black man died in april after suffering a spinal cord injury while in police custody and his death led to mass protests against police brutality across the country and stark has details from washington d.c. >> reporter: a baltimore grand jury has now returned charges against all six officers in the death of freddie gray. these charges are very similar to the ones that the state's attorney initially brought against the officers may first.

reckless endangerment has been added against the officers and charges of false imprisonment have been dropped but all six officers face very serious charges, the most serious against the driver of the van that gray was transported in. officer goodson junior and charged with second degree depraved part murder essentially that means he took actions that he knew would cause harm but he didn't care. that is the charges against him. of course the attorneys for all these officers say these are unwarranted, that the officers did their duty and did nothing wrong. the officers all free on bail right now. they will be in court july second for a formal arraignment. california's local government is deploying hundreds of employees and volunteers to cleanup an oil spill. 2500 barrels of crude oil leaked from a pipeline on tuesday in santa barbara and rob reynolds

reports from there. >> reporter: a sticky smelly mess has befowled the sands by santa barbara and workers in protective suits are cleaning the oil off of rocks and slowly mopping up thousands of barrels of crude. the cleanup involving hundreds of workers is being overseen by the u.s. coast guard and the federal environment protection agency. >> operations will continue throughout the evening in the excavation area up to the pipeline and it will just continue everyday until that area is excavated and contaminated soil is removed from that area. >> it could very well be weeks and months, however we are going to take it day by day. >> reporter: the ruptured pipeline belongs to a texas company called plains all american which has a troubling safety record. a study by the los angeles times newspaper shows the company has had 175 federal safety and maintenance infractions since

2006. that's three times the national average. the company says it doesn't know exactly what caused the pipeline breach. >> since we are one of the largest operators of pipelines across the industry in the united states, the number of reportable incidents by percentage is well within industry norms. >> reporter: no people have needed any medical attention as a result of the spill but it is taking a toll on wildlife. birds, marine mammals, fish and crustracians and took an oil soiled sea lean away for treatment. teams walking up and down the beaches looking for animals that may have been impacted and aerial surveys looking for marine mammals off shore, whales and porposis. residents of santa barbara population 90,000 are distressed. >> i think it's terrible and sounds like clear negligence to me. >> the part that bugs me is this was predictable and could have had some type of preventative issue just in the event that it

occurred not letting it get to the ocean. >> imagine losing a person you know, losing someone close to you, because it's losing our pristine water and think and i think so much of the ocean and so many of us do. >> reporter: the people in this city are angry and upset. they want some answers and they want assurances that something like this cannot happen again rob reynolds al jazeera, santa barbara, california. dozens of residents of u.s. state of texas are being forced from their homes because of widespread flooding. heavy rain has inundated parts of wichita falls after a drought. forecasters are warning of more rainfall at the weekend. now police in chile fired tear gas and water canon during anti-government protests outside parliament in the port city of valparaiso and demanding free education tried to break past barriers and the president gave her annual state of the nation speech and latin american editor

lucy reports. >> reporter: protesters and riot police played cat and mouse for hours after the state of the nation address. students and representatives of just about everyone is satisfied with the way the government is handling the country came out to protest. riot police in full gear far out number the demonstrators who nevertheless refuse to back down clearly in the mood for a fight. violent clashes during an annual presidential address have become almost a tradition in chile but this year the atmosphere is even more charged, exactly one week ago there was a protest here and as the demonstrators were scribbling some gra feetty on the wall you see behind me the man living in the apartment above began firing on the crowd, killing two students right where i'm standing. as police held back protesters

the president focused on what she called the government's accomplishments. >> translator: chile is going through one of its most important transformation processes in history, what we have before us is the opportunity to build among everyone a better country. >> reporter: but no one here was listening. >> translator: this is a protest by the social movement and do not feel represented by what she is saying. >> reporter: the president recognizes that she has a serious credibility program. she made a number of proposals to try to win back confidence. but as a sign carried by protesters reads, we don't believe chile any more which means the president will need to do much more than make proposals to recover her lost popularity. i'm with al jazeera, valparaiso chile. >> reporter: 18 day arts festival with this display on

sidney opera house and the show created by a design group universal everything. and a series of images are projected on to the sails of the enesco building with technology and sidney 2015 festival has installations, projections and music. >> decision time for the senate, renew the patriot act or limit the n.s.a. the choice could change how the government secures the nation. >> new indictments for the six baltimore police officers accused in the death of freddie gray. >> change which is more progressive and inclusive can really help the people of the country. >> a historic vote. ireland becomes the first country in the world to decide