The US-led coalition today said it would investigate an attack on one of its bases in southern Afghanistan that killed a US and a Canadian soldier, including whether any of the casualties were caused by friendly fire.

Afghanistan’s top Islamic organisation today called for an end to three days of deadly rioting over drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, as police shot four protesters dead to stop hundreds from marching on a US military base.

Al-Qaida has sent several fighters from Iraq to join insurgents in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said after interrogating an Iraqi suspect who was caught sneaking across the country’s western border.