Colonies of giant biting spiders have attacked villagers and sparked panic in remote north-east India.

A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farming town north of Baghdad today, levelling houses and stores and killing more than 100 people, officials said.

Suicide bombings have killed nearly 50 people and wounded dozens in two Iraqi villages, including a large truck bombing today that ripped through an outdoor market and buried victims in rubble, officials said.

Suspected separatist rebels shot and killed 42 migrant workers and wounded 19 others in at least 10 separate attacks in India’s remote northeast, officials said.

A parked car bomb struck a neighbourhood in south-western Baghdad this evening, killing at least three civilians and wounding 14, police said, as sporadic violence persisted in the capital despite a security crackdown.