The Northern Alliance today claimed opposition forces in Afghanistan have seized an outlying district of the strategic Taliban-held city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

US jets have pounded the front north of Kabul night and day, elating opposition commanders.

American jets roared over the Afghan capital today in a renewed assault a day after a stray strike was reported to have claimed lives in a northern village.

A Supreme Court chief justice in Afghanistan told eight foreign aid workers today that they would be treated fairly, and that the threat of a US military assault would not play a part in their trial on charges of preaching Christianity.

Afghanistan's opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood is in a serious condition in hospital after a suicide bombing at his base.