A spate of assaults by suspected Taliban rebels killed eight policemen and wounded an election candidate, and Afghanistan warned today that aid workers and other “soft” targets were in danger of attack ahead of elections this month.

Noor Khan, Kandahar

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.

At least three more anti-US protesters were killed in Afghanistan today in clashes with police, officials said, as anger over the reported abuse of Islam’s holy book at the US jail in Guantanamo Bay spread across the country.

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 MAN suspected of involvement in the abduction of three UN workers in Afghanistan died in custody last week and authorities are investigating whether he was tortured to death, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.

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.

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.

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

TWO foreign nationals, one of them Swiss, have been stoned to death in the Afghan capital Kabul, government officials said yesterday.

More than 100 Palestinians were arrested today when Israeli forces swept into the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli army said.

PALESTINIAN officials yesterday said they expected a positive response from Hamas on a truce with Israel, perhaps even by late last night, and Egyptian diplomatic sources said an announcement would be made in Cairo.

Terror group Hamas is expected to agree to a truce with Israel, perhaps even by the end of the day, Palestinian officials said.