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.

A US-led coalition airstrike in southern Afghanistan today killed a suspected midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other suspected militants, Nato said in a statement.

Warplanes dropped bombs on suspected Taliban fighters hiding in orchards in a major Afghan-Nato offensive that the alliance said killed more than 200 militants in southern Afghanistan. Four Canadian soldiers were killed.

Air strikes on a cave complex near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan tonight killed four Taliban militants and destroyed a truck loaded with rockets, the US military said.

A KEY Taliban commander said that al-Qaida terror network chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are both alive and in good health after more than three years on the run.

More than 30 Taliban prisoners and other inmates have broken out of a high-security prison in southern Afghanistan, government officials said today.

Taliban suspects at Guantanamo Bay have been moved into shelters as a tropical storm approaches.

An intelligence official in Afghanistan’s interim government has said negotiations for the surrender of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar have reached “a crucial stage”, with a resolution expected within two days.

Taliban prisoners of war claim they are being mistreated.

The FTSE-100 Index was ahead 28.1 points at 5321.3 by mid-morning as the Taliban's final stronghold of Kandahar came under threat.

Face to face meetings are underway between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance leaders around the city of Kunduz.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has said his forces will not co-operate in any "broad-based government" in Afghanistan, saying they would rather die than participate in what he said would be an evil regime.

US planes have dropped leaflets on Taliban fighters featuring Mullah Omar's head in gun cross-hairs.

Former US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger says only the complete destruction of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network could safeguard world security.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are reportedly distributing heavy artillery in preparation for US Ground attacks.

There are reports emerging that five Taliban soldiers were killed in air strikes on the Shindand air base at Herat in western Afghanistan.

Tony Blair warns all preparations are now in place for a military strike against Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban regime.

Many prominent officials of the Islamic regime are crossing the border into Pakistan, including ministers, judges and members of the Taliban militia's religious police.

Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers condemned the devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Tuesday and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.

Representatives of the International Red Cross have visited the eight foreign aid workers imprisoned by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers for preaching Christianity.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have shut down the BBC's office in the capital Kabul and ordered its correspondent to leave.