The British parliament is to investigate if security services could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers.

Britain’s Prince Harry, who compared shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental problem, the Taliban said.

At least six people were killed in an early morning suicide attack in the Afghan capital, hours after a surprise visit to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama, government officials said.

Nato-led troops should pull back from rural areas and villages to main bases and Afghan troops should take the lead for countrywide security in 2013, president Hamid Karzai said today.

The commander of Nato and US forces says that all Nato personnel are being recalled from Afghan ministries following an attack at the Interior Ministry in Kabul.

The Taliban’s political wing is ready to enter peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan, the group said today, but the insurgents will continue their armed struggle in the meantime.

The Afghan Taliban say they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there that could have a key role in peace talks to end more than a decade of war.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said 31 US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Wardak province.

AT LEAST five suicide bombers attacked a major hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan’s capital, a senior police officer said, with fighting continuing as police cleared the building.

Taliban militants dug a lengthy tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and insurgents said today.

A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform has killed the top police official in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province.

AN American war jet blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan yesterday, killing up to 90 people, including insurgents and dozens of civilians who had rushed to the scene to collect fuel, Afghan officials said.

Today’s suicide car bomb explosion in the Afghan capital Kabul killed four civilians and wounded 91 Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry spokesman said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul today, killing at least three people and badly damaging part of the building, officials and witnesses said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

A top Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan has been dismissed for disobeying the militant group’s rules.

CHEYENNE STAR is a hopeful nap choice in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms’ EBF Cooley Fillies Stakes at Dundalk tonight.

A suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform set off a huge explosion early today while trying to board a military bus in Kabul, killing 30 people and wounding 30, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Vodafone Derby-winning rider Martin Dwyer opened his seasonal account in Dubai at the fourth attempt when partnering Gabanna to victory over stable companion Tri Another Cat at Nad Al Sheba this evening.

EDDIE HALES, based at Dundrum, Co Tipperary and one of the more colourful characters in the game, enjoyed a welcome turn when Public Reaction sprang a 16-1 surprise in the two mile October Race at Thurles yesterday.

Dozens of stone-throwing Muslim youths set fire to shops in the Pakistani city of Karachi today as sectarian unrest rumbled on despite a citywide shutdown called by a hardline Islamic alliance to protest against violence that has left 12 dead this week.