Seven people were killed in clashes between Afghan security forces and protesters demonstrating against the burning of Muslim holy books at a Nato military base.

SUICIDE attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital yesterday, killing at least eight people in a series of explosions in more than eight hours of gunfighting on the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

Suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital Kabul today, killing at least eight people in a series of explosions and more than eight-hour gunfight.

Nineteen people have been killed in Afghanistan after a team of suicide bombers targeted a provincial governor’s compound, police have confirmed.

At least 10 people, including a police officer, were killed when a bicycle rigged with explosives blew up in a bazaar in northern Afghanistan, authorities said today.

Afghan gunmen attacked a construction company in Kabul province, wounding one security guard and kidnapping nine others, the Interior Ministry said today.

A child was killed and at least a dozen other people were injured in a blast at a wedding celebration in Afghanistan, police said today.

At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured when a powerful car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in the busy centre of Kabul as commuters arrived for work today, officials said.

US-led troops attacked a compound where Taliban leaders were meeting in western Afghanistan, killing 30 militants, American and Afghan military officials said today.

President Hamid Karzai condemned a US airstrike that Afghan officials claimed killed 10 border policemen today.

Armed men kidnapped a Canadian woman in the centre of the Afghan capital today, a senior police officer said.

A British hotelier said he had been detained over the kidnapping of three UN election workers - including Armagh woman Annetta Flanigan - in Afghanistan and claimed to have helped negotiate their release from Taliban-linked militants.

Three UN workers kidnapped in Afghanistan are in the hands of criminals, not the Taliban-linked militants who have threatened to kill them, an Afghan official said today.

Afghan militants threatening to kill three UN hostages, including Northern Ireland's Annetta Flanigan, pushed back the deadline for their deaths until midnight today – 7.30pm Irish time.

Afghan officials are optimistic that three UN hostages, including Northern ireland's Annetta Flanigan, will be freed unharmed, a government spokesman said.

Hundreds of people were arrested in Kabul in connection with an alleged plot to destabilise the interim administration installed by the UN.