The US military has signed a last-minute agreement to transfer its main detention centre in Afghanistan to Afghan control in six months, a key step toward a long-term pact on the US military presence.

The commander of Nato and US forces says that all Nato personnel are being recalled from Afghan ministries following an attack at the Interior Ministry in Kabul.

US forces formally marked the end of their mission in Iraq with a low-key ceremony near Baghdad, after nearly nine years of divisive war that began with the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

The US military has formally shut down the war in Iraq, officially retiring the flag of US Forces-Iraq.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has arrived in Baghdad today to formally end the nearly nine-year war in Iraq.

A lawsuit accusing former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of personal responsibility for US forces allegedly torturing two American whistleblowers who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm will be allowed to move forward, a federal appeals court in the US has ruled.

US FORCES finally found al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden not in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan’s border, but in an expensive compound in an upscale summer resort a little more than an hour’s drive from Pakistan’s capital, with his youngest wife.

THE enormous cache of secret war logs disclosed by the WikiLeaks website paints a picture of an Iraq burdened by persistent sectarian tension and meddling neighbours, suggesting that the country could drift into chaos once US forces leave.

The man behind the posting of 400,000 leaked classified US military reports on the internet said that he wanted to reveal the truth behind the Iraq war.

A packed bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan today, killing 25 people aboard, as Nato announced another US death in a rapidly rising monthly death toll.

“Clear evidence” existed that some Taliban fighters had trained in Iran, the commander of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan said.

The top al-Qaida terrorist killed in the US raid on Syria was about to stage an attack in Iraq, defence sources said today.

A car bomb in a commercial district of central Baghdad killed 18 people and wounded dozens more today.

The US military said today that it accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq south of Baghdad.

US forces targeting militants believed to have kidnapped two coalition soldiers raided the main Shiite district in Baghdad today. At least 13 people were killed, including a woman and children, Iraqi officials said.

US forces targeting militants believed to have kidnapped two coalition soldiers raided the main Shiite district in Baghdad today. At least 13 people were killed, including a woman and children, Iraqi officials said.

US forces backed by attack aircraft killed at least 25 suspected Shiite militia fighters north of Baghdad today as they targeted a cell accused of smuggling weapons from Iran.

The rate of deaths of US forces in Iraq fell to its lowest for more than a year last month with a total of 63.

A roadside bomb rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood early today, killing at least 11 people and injuring 19 others when it exploded next to buses used by morning commuters.

At least 21 rebels were killed today in fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a volatile southern province.

US General David Petraeus today said that insurgents in Iraq had sought to intensify attacks during a security crackdown in Baghdad.

US forces opened fire on civilians in eastern Afghanistan today as they fled a militant ambush involving a suicide car bomb and gunmen, Afghan witnesses said.

US soldiers destroyed two buildings being used by insurgents in a town in Anbar province, killing six militants, two women and a boy believed to be under two, the military said today.

SADDAM HUSSEIN has told his countrymen Iraq’s “liberation is at hand” and called on insurgents to be merciful with their enemy, according to an open letter obtained Monday.

A US base in southern Baghdad was hit by a mortar round fired by insurgents, which set off a series of explosions from detonating tank and artillery shells that shook buildings miles away.

Iraqi and US forces killed or captured more than 20 terrorist suspects, many linked with al-Qaida in Iraq, in a series of raids, the US command said today.

US forces have arrested a senior al-Qaida terrorist and personal associate of the group’s new leader, the top US military spokesman in Iraq said today.

US forces fired tank rounds at a mosque today in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi after coming under attack from militants inside, the US military command said.

Iraqi and US forces raided a Shiite militia stronghold in Baghdad today, triggering a gunbattle that left three people dead, while 12 others were killed elsewhere.

At least 13 people were killed as Iraqi security forces fought street gunbattles with suspected insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after a suicide car bomber blew up a police patrol today, officials said.

President Jalal Talabani said today that Iraqi forces will take over security of all provinces in the country by the end of the year, which at present is largely in the hand of US forces.

US forces today recovered the bodies of two American soldiers reported captured by insurgents last week.

US and Afghan security forces fired on protesters in the Afghan capital after a riot erupted today because of a deadly traffic accident involving US troops, and at least four people were killed, police and witnesses said.

Gunmen stopped a Baghdad minibus and killed all eight Iraqis on board today.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell should immediately grant the right to stay in Ireland to the 33 Afghan asylum seekers.

Police found 30 more victims of the sectarian slaughter ravaging Iraq – most of them beheaded – dumped on a village road north of Baghdad.

Eighteen people were killed in a clash involving US and Iraqi army forces at a mosque in eastern Baghdad today.

At least 24 bodies – many of them strangled – were found dumped in parts of Baghdad, Iraqi police said today.

The American military today detained a high-ranking member of al Qaida in Iraq in the restive town of Ramadi, the US Marines said.

TWO men strapped with explosives detonated them at Baghdad’s police academy today, killing at least 43 people and wounding 73 more, officials said, while al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video of a man purported to be a US security consultant.

Insurgents fired a mortar at a ceremony today where US forces were handing over a former presidential palace to local Iraqi officials after occupying it for more than three years.

US forces mistakenly fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American military base north of Baghdad today, killing at least three people, including two children.

Insurgents attacked US and Iraqi troops in western Iraq, triggering fire fights that left 32 insurgents dead, a US military statement said today

Three brothers of a failed Iraqi suicide bomber had been killed by US forces, it was reported today.