Gunmen have attacked an outpost of a government-sponsored militia force in western Afghanistan, killing 10 people, officials said.

Afghan security forces shot and killed two British troops and one American in two separate incidents, the latest in a rising number of attacks in which Afghan forces have turned their weapons on their foreign partners.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a police truck outside a bakery in southern Afghanistan today, killing at least two civilians, officials said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up today at the gate of the police headquarters in Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 11 security officers in a city where Afghans have recently taken control of security.

The Taliban said today that they sent the suicide bomber who killed the mayor of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

The Taliban has launched a bold assault on government installations in the key southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar.

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.

A Nato helicopter crashed today in southern Afghanistan, killing nine international troops in a region where forces are ramping up pressure on Taliban insurgents. It was the deadliest chopper crash for the coalition in four years.

A suicide bomb ripped through a wedding party in full swing in the Taliban’s heartland in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens more, officials said today.

About 300 families have already fled a southern Afghan town ahead of a major new offensive planned on a key Taliban stronghold, provincial officials said today.

A car bomb exploded next to an Afghan government office during a provincial council meeting today, killing at least three people and wounding 28, officials said.

Armed assailants attacked a man and gouged out his eyes in front of his family during a gruesome assault in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.

Taliban militants stopped a bus travelling on Afghanistan’s main road through a wild and dangerous part of the country’s south, seized about 50 people on board and slaughtered around 30 of them, officials said today.

More than 600 prisoners escaped during a brazen Taliban bomb and rocket attack on the main prison in southern Afghanistan that knocked down the front gate and demolished a prison floor, officials said today.

Gordon Brown today promised new aid to rebuild the shattered economy of Afghanistan as British and Afghan troops seized a key strategic town from the Taliban.

AN IRISHWOMAN serving with the US Army in Afghanistan has been killed while on duty.

The Taliban will “never” negotiate with Afghan authorities until US and Nato forces leave the country, a spokesman for the group said today, again rebuffing an overture for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai.

Taliban chiefs would consider holding negotiations with the Afghan government, but no direct offer has been made by President Hamid Karzai's administration, a spokesman for the militant group said today.

Nineteen South Koreans freed by Taliban kidnappers prepared to fly home today as their government denied allegations it had paid a ransom to end the six-week hostage stand-off.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have agreed to release 19 South Korean church volunteers held captive since July 19, a spokesman for the insurgents and the South Korean government said today.

Taliban leaders and South Korean officials were continuing negotiations by telephone over the fate of the remaining 19 hostages today, but no new face-to-face talks had been planned, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

TWO women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in mid-July were freed yesterday on a rural Afghan roadside and then driven to a US base, the first significant breakthrough in a hostage drama that is more than three weeks old.

A Taliban spokesman said today that two sick, female South Korean hostages would be released “soon” for the sake of good relations.

The Taliban today said the Afghan government has promised safe passage to two top Taliban leaders so they could meet with South Korean negotiators to discuss the fate of 21 Korean hostages.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said the Afghan government is working to free 21 South Korean hostages but indicated it wouldn’t give in to Taliban demands.

The Taliban today offered to hold talks with South Korean officials in Afghan government-controlled territory over the fate of 21 hostages if the UN guaranteed the safety of the militant delegation.

Amnesty International said it had directly appealed to the Taliban to free 21 South Korean hostages, warning the militant movement that holding and killing captives was a war crime.

The Afghan army today dropped leaflets warning of impending military action in the region where Taliban militants are holding 21 South Koreans, though the army said the upcoming operation is not connected to the hostages.

The Taliban threatened to kill more of the remaining 21 South Korean captives today, while Afghanistan said it would not release insurgent prisoners – the militia’s key demand to ending the two-week long hostage crisis.

Police in Afghanistan this morning discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage killed by the Taliban, officials said.

Taliban militants holding 22 South Korean hostages extended the deadline for the captives’ lives an additional two days after setting and letting pass two deadlines today for militant prisoners to be released from Afghan jails, a provincial governor said.

An Afghan governor today pleaded with the Taliban to extend a deadline for the lives of 22 South Koreans after militants warned the Afghan government to release some of its captured fighters or else hostages would die.

TALIBAN militants in Afghanistan yesterday claimed they shot and killed one South Korean hostage while a group of abductees was freed and taken to a US military base, officials said.

Taliban militants in Afghanistan today claimed they shot and killed one Korean hostage while a group of abductees was freed and taken to a US military base, officials said.

A purported Taliban spokesman today said negotiations for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages have stalled and that the militants planned to kill “a few” of the captives immediately.

Airstrikes and clashes in southern Afghanistan killed more than 75 militants, as a threatened deadline for the lives of 23 South Korean hostages being held by Taliban militants passed with no resolution.

KOREAN negotiators, accompanied by Afghan elders and clerics, met face-to-face with the kidnappers of 23 South Koreans yesterday as a threatened Taliban deadline to execute them passed by once again.

A roadside blast struck a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan, wounding four alliance soldiers today.

A STORY of a six-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders.

A roadside bomb killed three Canadian Nato soldiers in southern Afghanistan today.

A BOMB ripped through a police academy bus at Kabul’s busiest transportation hub yesterday, killing at least 35 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

An enormous bomb ripped through a police academy bus in a crowded area of Kabul today, killing more than 35 people and wounding 35 others in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

Afghan officials have arrested seven suspects in connection with an apparent assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said today.