The bulk of the victims did not die under the exploding shells. Most were hauled from canals into which they jumped or were driven - some still in their cars - by the huge crowds fleeing the shrapnel descending from the sky. Full video: January 27

Authorities have sent aid to Apiate, the town that was devastated by a massive blast on Thursday. At least 13 people were killed in that explosion, which happened when a truck carrying dynamite for a nearby mine blew up after a collision with a motorcycle. We also head to Bamako, where former Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was laid to rest... and to Senegal, where we take a closer look on what's at stake in upcoming local elections.

Blast and fire kill 16 at Russian chemicals plant

Heavy fighting claimed at least six lives and left dozens wounded in Lebanon's capital as an escalation of tensions around last year's massive portside explosion turned parts of Beirut into a war-zone. The army deployed tanks and troops to quell street battles that sparked memories of the 1975-1990 civil war for a city already traumatised by last year's blast disaster and Lebanon's worst-ever economic crisis.

At least four were killed in the attack on the governor's convoy. Both he and the environment minister, who was also in the vehicle, survived.

Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in an apparent suicide attack at a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

Australia pulled all its troops out of Afghanistan shortly before the bombings after receiving "very clear intelligence" of an impending attack.

The monster explosion at Beirut's port has "chattered children's sense of normalcy and robbed them of safety," says UNICEF regional director Ted Chaiban during a press conference in the al-Karantina neighbourhood. A year after, one in three families in Lebanon have children still showing signs of trauma, according to a UN survey. The August 4, 2020 explosion killed more than 200 people, wounded at least 6,500 others and damaged swathes of the capital.

Pope Francis returns to work full-time following a colon operation, urging the international community to help a struggling Lebanon on the anniversary of the explosion that killed over 200 people.

At least one person has died and 16 people are injured following an explosion at a chemical park in Leverkusen in western Germany. Residents have been urged to stay indoors because of black smoke rising from the area.

The Czech Republic has accused Russian intelligence of being involved in a 2014 explosion at a military ammunition warehouse. It's searching for suspects involved in the 2018 Skripal poisoning.

Czechs gather outside the Russian embassy in Prague to protest, angry over Russia's alleged involvement in a 2014 explosion in the east of the country. The government said Saturday it would expel 18 Russian diplomats seen as secret agents in retaliation, saying Russia's military intelligence GRU had been involved in the explosion of a military ammunition warehouse in 2014 that killed two people.