A militant group claimed to have killed two hostages in Iraq – one a Turk and the other an Iraqi who was a long-time resident in Italy, the Arab news network Al-Jazeera reported.

AFGHANISTAN'S government yesterday welcomed a decision by the United States to prosecute a CIA contractor over the brutal killing of a prisoner in a northeastern jail.

A CIA contractor, charged with fatally assaulting an Afghan prisoner, was fired from a police force after an assault 14 years ago and a series of run-ins with wives and neighbours, authorities and acquaintances said yesterday.

A CIA contractor, charged with fatally assaulting an Afghan prisoner, was fired from a police force after an assault 14 years ago and a history of run-ins, authorities and acquaintances said today.

A contractor working for the CIA has been charged in connection with the beating to death of a prisoner in Afghanistan – the first civilian to face criminal charges related to US treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A contractor working for the CIA was indicted today in connection with the beating to death of a prisoner in Afghanistan – the first civilian to face criminal charges related to US treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pakistan’s human rights commission today hailed as a landmark a Supreme Court ruling that a Muslim woman who married for love had been entitled to choose her husband without her parents’ consent.

Several civilians have reportedly been killed in US bombing raids on suspected Taliban fugitives in southern Afghanistan.

Residents of the Afghan capital today peered through the open doors of abandoned Taliban military bases and whispered to each other: ‘‘Are they gone?’’

Four weeks into the US led air campaign, the Taliban say they won’t be easily defeated - and not because they are a sophisticated adversary. Quite the opposite.

Calling Ahmed Shah Massood their battlefield enemy, the hard-line Islamic Taliban denied they were behind a suicide bombing that has critically injured the opposition leader.

Afghanistan's opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood is in a serious condition in hospital after a suicide bombing at his base.

Hindus will be required to wear an identity label on their clothing in Islamic Afghanistan to distinguish them from Muslims, a Taliban minister said today.