A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up in a crowded town market in southern Afghanistan today, killing 21 civilians, near where Nato troops were on patrol, officials said.

The resurgent Taliban militia are a tactical problem for the US-led coalition but cannot not take over Afghanistan again, a top US general said, as the US-led coalition today reported that two of its soldiers were wounded in the volatile south.

A man has been accused of plotting to assassinate the commander of the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia.

A raid on the home of Radovan Karadzic has uncovered evidence that the world’s most wanted war crimes fugitive is linked to illegal smuggling, Nato said today.