International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser – enough to make hundreds of roadside bombs, the Taliban’s most lethal weapon in what has been the deadliest year of the war.

A suspected hacker tapped into a US military database containing social security numbers and other personal information for 33,000 Air Force officers and some enlisted staff.

A US Air Force sergeant has been killed in an accident in the Arabian Peninsula, becoming the first American death in Operation Enduring Freedom.