A line of Afghan schoolchildren walked past a military checkpoint as a bomb-loaded truck exploded, killing 14 youngsters in a heartbreaking scene captured by a US military security camera.

The top Nato general in Afghanistan said he rejects the idea that Nato is losing the Afghanistan war to an increasingly bloody Taliban insurgency.

The US military yesterday admitted that US airstrikes in Afghanistan on August 22 killed 33 civilians, far more than previously acknowledged.

US defence secretary Robert Gates expressed "personal regret" today for recent US airstrikes that killed Afghan civilians.

The bodies of at least 10 children and many more adults covered in blankets appear in videos released today, lending weight to Afghan and UN claims that a US-led raid last month killed more civilians than the US reported.

The US military says it has new information about an American attack that Afghanistan says killed 90 civilians and is sending a senior military officer to the country to review its initial conclusion that no more than seven people died.

Afghan drugs police have uncovered 236 metric tonnes of hashish hidden in 6ft deep trenches in southern Afghanistan, in what they say appears to be the largest yet drug bust.

US forces were fighting for a fourth day today in Iraq as they tried to stamp out resistance by supporters of Saddam Hussein’s former regime.

US troops raided the Palestinian Authority’s mission in Baghdad and arrested 11 members – including its top diplomat – after ransacking the building, Palestinian officials said today.

The US-led coalition officially ordered Iraqis today to disarm by mid-June, part of a high-profile effort to get weapons off the streets and return public security to cities under American occupation.

Saddam Hussein’s eldest son is in talks to surrender to US forces, it was reported today.

The top American general in Kuwait pledged today that any use of chemical weapons by Iraq in a looming war would be met with a “dramatic” response.

SETTING the stage for possible war, the US and Britain have nearly tripled the number of air patrols over southern Iraq’s no-fly zone, a senior defence official said.