A Nato airstrike killed eight women and girls who were out gathering firewood before dawn today in a remote region in the east of Afghanistan, government officials have said.

Two gunmen in Afghan National Army uniforms have turned their weapons on Nato troops, killing an American service member and wounding two others.

Dozens of militants from Afghanistan have taken scores of villagers hostage in Pakistan’s north west, sparking fighting that killed at least 10 people, Pakistani officials said.

The UK is “sticking to its course” in Afghanistan amid warnings British troops could be killed in reprisal attacks for the killing of 16 civilians by a US soldier, Downing Street said.

A US soldier came out of his base in southern Afghanistan today and started shooting Afghan civilians, the provincial governor said.

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

An Afghan mother has been murdered by her husband, angry that she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he wanted.

Pakistan blocked vital supply routes for US-led troops in Afghanistan and demanded Washington leave a base used by American drones after coalition aircraft allegedly killed 24 troops at two posts along a mountainous frontier that serves as a safe haven for militants.

Nato forces say an international service member has been killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a police truck outside a bakery in southern Afghanistan today, killing at least two civilians, officials said.

NATO forces have bombed several targets near Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte which is southeast of Tripoli.

Firefights broke out between Nato forces and Afghan police in two parts of Afghanistan overnight, with four Afghan officers killed in one of the incidents, officials said today.

The Taliban released a video today showing fighters executing 16 Pakistani tribal police officers who were captured in a cross-border raid from Afghanistan earlier this summer.

A suicide bomber has killed four people gathered for a memorial service for the Afghanistan president’s half brother, officials say.

RAF jets and other Nato forces today struck a command and control centre where Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi sometimes lives, it was announced.

Nato forces have reportedly carried out fresh airstrikes on the Libyan capital of Tripoli hitting Colonel Gaddafi's compound.

Afghanistan’s president has rejected a US apology for the mistaken killing of nine Afghan boys in a Nato air attack, saying civilian casualties were no longer acceptable.

A massive effort by US and Nato forces including offensives in the insurgent heartland and targeted assassinations of rebel leaders has failed to dent Taliban numbers over the past year, according to the military and diplomats.

A Nato airstrike killed four Afghan soldiers in the country’s south, mistaking them for militants, an Afghan military official said.

A bomb has exploded inside an army base in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least two civilians, Afghan officials said today.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility today for a pre-dawn attack on tankers carrying fuel to Afghanistan for US and other Nato forces.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility today for a pre-dawn attack on tankers carrying fuel to Afghanistan for US and other Nato forces, vowing to continue raiding supply lines in Pakistan until they are shut down completely.

A suicide car bomber killed a deputy governor and five other people in eastern Afghanistan today, police said.

A minibus packed with civilians struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan early today, killing six on board and wounding nine, officials said.

Nato forces said they foiled a terrorist attack on a conference due to be held in Kabul to be attended by leaders from more than 60 countries.

General David Petraeus, the new commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, called for unity today in the civilian and military effort to turn back the Taliban and stabilise the troubled country.

An Afghan man working for the United Nations was shot and killed in his vehicle today near a busy traffic island in Afghanistan’s capital, the world body said.

Insurgents launched a rare ground assault against Nato’s main military base in southern Afghanistan today, wounding several international service members in the second such attack on a major military installation this week.

THE EU ambassador to Afghanistan has admitted the upcoming parliamentary elections are likely to be undemocratic as a circle of bloody violence continues to cripple the country.

The Taliban claimed responsibility today for a suicide bombing inside a US-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan that killed two Nato service members.

A suicide car bomber targeted Nato forces today outside the major southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing four civilians, the Interior Ministry said.

The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan took his apology for an airstrike that killed civilians directly to the Afghan people, with a video in which he pledged to work to regain their trust.

US Marines and Afghan soldiers stormed the Taliban-held town of Marjah today, as a major offensive began to break the extremists’ grip over a wide area of their southern heartland and re-establish government control.

Military divers have found the body of one of two US soldiers who disappeared last week in western Afghanistan, Nato forces said today.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack near the military airport in Kabul.

NATO forces foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a Norwegian oil tanker, and briefly detained seven gunmen after hunting them down under cover of darkness, Nato officials said yesterday.

Somali pirates attacked a tanker in the Gulf of Aden today, but Nato forces chased them down and freed 20 Yemeni fisherman the pirates were holding on another hijacked boat.

A roadside bomb apparently targeting an oil tanker exploded along a Pakistani supply line used by US-led troops in Afghanistan, and official said.

A government official says Pakistan has temporarily closed the major supply route to US and Nato forces in Afghanistan after suspected militants fired rockets on a nearby military camp.

A British marine was killed in southern Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, the Ministry of Defence in the UK said today.

Pakistani forces bombed dozens of houses in a tribal region near the Afghan border today, officials and witnesses said, amid reports that days of clashes have killed at least 100 insurgents and nine paramilitary troops.

Nato forces killed four civilians and wounded three others today when they fired at a vehicle that did not stop at a checkpoint in Afghanistan's volatile south, the alliance said.

US-led coalition forces clashed with suspected militants in central Afghanistan, leaving several insurgents dead and detaining two, a statement from the coalition said.

Italian commandos, aided by Nato forces and aircraft, rescued two kidnapped Italian intelligence agents in a daring ambush and gunbattle that left at least nine of the captors dead in western Afghanistan today.