A suicide bomb tore through a mosque in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan today during the funeral of a Muslim cleric who spoke out against the Taliban.

Four people were shot to death today in clashes with police as protests over allegations that interrogators in Guantanamo Bay desecrated Islam’s holy book spread to more Afghan cities, officials and witnesses said.

Four people were shot dead in clashes with police as anti-US protests spread to more Afghan cities today, officials and witnesses said.

AN ARMS cache hidden by an Afghan warlord exploded in a bunker beneath his home yesterday, killing 28 people and devastating surrounding buildings, officials said.

A warlord’s secret weapons cache exploded in a remote Afghan village today, flattening nearby houses and a mosque and killing at least 28 people in what appeared to be the deadliest accident of its kind since the fall of the Taliban.

An arms dump exploded in northern Afghanistan today, killing 28 people and injuring more than 70, officials said.

Here are the key dates in the Afghan kidnapping.

Here are the key dates in the Afghan kidnapping.

Three UN workers kidnapped three weeks ago in the Afghan capital remain out of reach, a government official said today, as fresh appeals were made for their release.

Three UN workers kidnapped in Afghanistan are in the hands of criminals, not the Taliban-linked militants who have threatened to kill them, an Afghan official said today.

Militants threatening to kill three United Nations hostages including a woman from Northern Ireland said today that a noon deadline could be postponed for negotiations on demands that include the world body’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Afghan officials are optimistic that three UN hostages, including Northern ireland's Annetta Flanigan, will be freed unharmed, a government spokesman said.

International aid workers kept a low profile today after the brazen daylight kidnapping of an Irish woman and two other foreign UN election staff in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

International aid workers were keeping their heads down in Afghanistan today following the brazen daylight kidnapping of a woman from Northern Ireland and two other foreign UN election staff in the capital, Kabul.

PROTESTERS stormed UN compounds and stoned US soldiers in the Afghan city of Herat yesterday, a day after the government sacked its warlord governor.

Demonstrators stormed UN compounds and stoned US soldiers in the Afghan city of Herat, a day after the government sacked its warlord governor.