Some of the 41 Afghan hunger strikers in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin say that they will kill themselves if they are removed by force.

A GROUP of Afghan asylum seekers protested outside the Dáil yesterday, highlighting the high numbers who have been turned down for refugee status.

SUSPECTED Taliban fighters attacked a government checkpoint and ambushed another group of Afghan soldiers along the main road linking the south with the capital, killing at least eight soldiers, Afghan officials said yesterday.

Afghan soldiers were waging a fierce ground battle against entrenched Taliban fighters in the south of the country after a night of heavy US bombing, a local intelligence chief said today.

US and Afghan soldiers killed about a dozen insurgents today and recaptured a key mountain pass in the south-east of the country, a local official said.