It was the first major attack in the Afghan capital since President Donald Trump abruptly called off US-Taliban talks on the brink of an apparent deal to end America’s longest war.

Your lunchtime headlines.

The death toll from an attack on a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital during Friday prayers has risen from 20 to at least 28, with victims including women and children.

At least 20 people have been killed and 50 wounded after militants stormed a mosque in the Afghan capital while worshippers were at Friday prayers, hospital officials said.

An attack on a military hospital in Afghanistan has killed more than 30 people, the country's Defence Ministry has said.

A huge explosion has shaken the Afghan capital, Kabul, sending a plume of black smoke over the city’s western suburbs.

A Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse has left 14 people dead, including nine foreigners, in the most audacious assault by the insurgents in the Afghan capital since the start of their spring offensive.

The killing of an American who directed al-Qaeda’s media campaign from his Pakistani hideout is likely to be a big blow for the militants, especially as they wage a propaganda war with Islamic State.

Thousands of people have marched through the Afghan capital, demanding justice for a woman who was beaten to death by a mob after being falsely accused of burning a Koran.

Authorities in Pakistan have hanged two convicted militants in the first executions following the reinstatement of the death penalty in the wake of this week’s Peshawar school massacre.

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has told thousands of supporters he plans to declare victory as he claimed massive fraud was responsible for preliminary results putting his rival ahead.

Pakistan has launched a ground offensive against Taliban strongholds near the Afghan border after evacuating nearly half a million residents from the tribal region.

A Swedish journalist has been shot to death while he was talking to a translator on a street in Kabul, the second killing in two months to strike foreigners in an affluent and well-guarded area of the Afghan capital.

A top leader of Pakistan’s Taliban has been shot dead in the country’s tribal region near the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

A suicide bomber tore through the Afghan capital, killing at least six people near the site where thousands of elders are to gather next week to discuss a controversial security agreement with the United States, officials said.

A roadside bomb has killed two Pakistani soldiers in a north-west tribal area near the Afghan border, military officials said.

Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the US to investigate reports of civilians hit by CIA drone strikes aimed at militants in Pakistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility today for an attack in Afghanistan that killed four American troops just hours after it announced it would hold talks with the US.

A suspected US drone strike has killed seven militants near the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence officials

A car bomber attacked a Nato convoy in the Afghan capital today, killing at least six people and wounding more than 30, officials said.

Five American service members have been killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.

Taliban suicide bombers blew up a car and stormed the traffic police headquarters in Kabul early today, setting off a gun battle which raged for six hours and left at least 10 people wounded, police said.

Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected American drones have fired several missiles into three militant hideouts near Afghan border, killing at least nine fighters.

A car bomb tore through a crowded bazaar outside an office for anti-Taliban tribal elders Saturday in north-western Pakistan, killing at least 17 people, officials said.

A suspected US drone missile strike has killed five people in a militant haven in north-west Pakistan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said today.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a mini-bus carrying foreign aviation workers to the airport in the Afghan capital early today, killing at least nine people in an attack a militant group said was revenge for an anti-Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Mohammed.

A roadside bomb killed 15 passengers in a van and wounded 12 others in north-west Pakistan near the Afghan border today, police said.

A Nato airstrike in eastern Afghanistan killed a dozen militants including a senior leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, the international military coalition has revealed.

The Taliban have threatened to kill a Pakistani cricket star turned politician if he holds a planned march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest over US drone attacks.

A suspected US missile strike has killed four people near the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at a roadside restaurant in south-western Pakistan today, killing 18 people, officials said.

A US drone strike in Pakistan's frontier tribal area has killed 10 suspected militants, officials say.

Ten suspected militants have been killed in a missile strike by a US drone in north-west Pakistan near the Afghan border, intelligence officials say.

Twenty people were killed in a suicide bombing in a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border today, officials said.

At least six people were killed in an early morning suicide attack in the Afghan capital, hours after a surprise visit to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama, government officials said.

The beheaded body of a British Red Cross worker held captive in Pakistan since January was found in an orchard, with a note attached saying he was killed because no ransom was paid, police said.

Osama bin Laden’s three widows and his children have been deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia.

A vehicle drove onto the runway of the main British base in Afghanistan then burst into flames at around the same time the US Defence Secretary arrived there today.

At least six militants were killed when a suspected US drone strike hit a vehicle in a tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said today.

Al-Qaida has confirmed the death of one of its commanders in Pakistan, saying he was killed in an American drone strike last month.

A suicide car bomber struck early today at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, killing nine people in an attack insurgents said was revenge for US troops burning Korans.

Pakistani militants today killed 15 security force members they kidnapped last month close to the Afghan border, showing that not all insurgent factions are interested in reported peace talks with the government.

Pakistan’s army has rejected a US investigation into the Nato air strikes that killed 24 of its soldiers.

An investigation into a Nato attack that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border has concluded that a combination of mistrust and bad maps led to the air strikes on the two outposts in Pakistan, officials say.

FURY spread in Pakistan yesterday over a Nato cross-border air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and could undermine the US effort to wind up the war in Afghanistan.

Pakistan state TV said the death toll from an alleged Nato helicopter attack on a Pakistani army checkpoint near the Afghan border has risen to 25 soldiers.

Iran began a four-day air defence military exercise today aimed at upgrading its ability to protect its airspace and its nuclear facilities in case of an attack.

Seven suspected militants have been killed in a US drone missile strike at a house in Pakistan near the Afghan border, reports say.