'Seven dead' in blasts in Russia's Dagestan region - 5/3/12



At least seven people have been reported killed in two explosions on the outskirts of Makhachkala, capital of Russia's Dagestan region.
The explosions happened late on Thursday near a police post in the city, local media reports say.
Medical and police officials said more were injured in the blasts.
Dagestan and neighbouring Russian republics have been plagued by violence in recent years between Islamist militants and Russian security forces.
The explosions happened at a checkpoint on the road to the city of Astrakhan.
"Human body fragments are scattered at the checkpoint. There are a lot of them there," a local police source told the Russian Interfax news agency.
The explosions occurred about 15 minutes apart, but the construction of the bombs and how they were set off was still under investigation, Interior Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Gasanov told the Associated Press news agency.
Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim, multi-ethnic republic which borders Chechnya, has seen some of the worst militant violence in the North Caucasus in recent years.
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Nigeria's Potiskum cattle market raid 'kills dozens' - 5/3/12



At least 34 people have been killed in an attack on a cattle market in north-eastern Nigeria, security officials have told the BBC.
Another 29 people were injured, said Nigerian military spokesman Col Dahiru Abdussalam.
The market in Potiskum, Yobe state, was set on fire by gunmen armed with explosives.
Police say the attack may be in revenge for the killing by traders of a man who had earlier tried to steal cattle.
"A group of gunmen armed with around 20 explosives and assault rifles attacked the Potiskum cattle market," police spokesman Toyin Gbadegesin told the AFP news agency.
"They threw explosives and shot indiscriminately, setting fire to the market, killing lots of livestock and wounding many people, mostly cattle dealers," he said.
A gang of men locked the gate of Potiskum's fenced cattle market, trapping many traders and livestock inside, residents told the BBC.
The market - a bustling trading hub, with cattle on sale from neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger - was razed to the ground late on Wednesday and many animals were also burned to death, residents say.
Witnesses say they saw several bodies being removed from the market.
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Mark 13:
6For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
7And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.