US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pledged during an unannounced visit to Iraq yesterday that his troops would leave as soon as possible, but fresh bloodshed erupted at an anti-American protest.

An Arabic journalist in Britain claims Osama bin Laden is alive, but was wounded in an attack on his Afghan base in December.

In the blood-stained history of terrorism there has never been a day as horrifying as September 11, 2001.

Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers condemned the devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Tuesday and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.

Followers of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that they would carry out a ‘‘huge and unprecedented attack’’ on US interests, a London-based Arab journalist said today.