Election authorities today said they have dismissed about 50 employees for suspected fraud in last month’s legislative polls, while human rights advocates warned that about half of the winning candidates are suspected to have links to armed groups.

Fighting erupted across Afghanistan ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today, with 10 suspected rebels, six police and five medical workers killed and rockets hitting the capital Kabul, officials said.

A roadside bombing today near a convoy of Canadian troops on the outskirts of the southern city of Kandahar seriously wounded at least one Afghan civilian.

American soldiers were today identifying the remains of 16 troops killed when their special forces helicopter was shot down and plunged into a mountain ravine in eastern Afghanistan.