Interim leader Hamid Karzai was certain to win Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election, his campaign spokesman said today, after early returns gave him a commanding advantage.

FORCES of a northern warlord overran the capital of a remote Afghan province yesterday, the interior minister said, in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Forces of a northern strongman overran the capital of a remote Afghan province today in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

A powerful warlord launched an assault against a rival commander and a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan today.

By Amir ShahHUNDREDS of rival militiamen with tanks and artillery faced off along a narrow front line in northern Afghanistan yesterday, as the government scrambled to stop what it described as the worst fighting in months.

The UN is investigating reports that witnesses with possible information about alleged mass killings in northern Afghanistan have been executed.

The United Nations today promised to send a delegation to investigate the discovery of a mass grave – believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of Taliban soldiers.

Fighting raged today between rival Afghan warlords - both of them officials in the interim government.

At first, he couldn’t tell the man was any different from the other wounded Taliban and al-Qaida fighters at the makeshift hospital: bleeding, in pain, covered in filth and with matted hair.

Members of Afghanistan’s overthrown Taliban militia who have ‘‘simply changed their turban colour’’ and melted into the population represent a threat to the interim government’s stability, the deputy defence minister has warned.

The future of the British-led multinational security force in Afghanistan was unclear today as Afghan leaders were divided about how long it should remain in the war-ravaged nation.

Afghan leaders were divided today over how long the British-led multinational security force should remain in the war-ravaged nation.

With gifts of colourful carpets and traditional robes, a Northern Alliance warlord today bid farewell to American Special Forces who joined his fighters in the battle to seize Mazar-e-Sharif from the Taliban.

The Red Cross today carried out the bodies of Taliban captives killed during a violent three day uprising that devastated the fortress where they had been held.

The Northern Alliance has opened a fortress up to journalists near Mazar-e-Sharif after crushing a three-day uprising by Taliban prisoners.

Hundreds of US Marines have landed near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, as American air strikes helped subdue an uprising by Taliban prisoners of war at a fortress in the north.

Northern Alliance troops have halted their advance into Kunduz from the east, fearing hostile fire.

Northern Alliance troops have entered Kunduz and say Taliban fighters are surrendering "continuously".

Thousands of Northern Alliance troops today advanced on al-Qaida fighters trapped in the surrounded city of Kunduz, and senior commanders said Taliban troops inside the city had agreed to lay down their arms this weekend.

Afghan warlords have a long tradition of changing sides in mid-battle, and none has switched teams more often than Rashid Dostum, the gruff and burly leader of an ethnic Uzbek faction.

A Taliban source has confirmed that opposition forces have entered Mazar-e-Sharif.