Suspected US missiles slammed into two Pakistani villages close to the Afghan border, killing 29 people including several suspected foreign militants, intelligence officials said.

Afghan police and soldiers are pressing ahead with a plan to eradicate the world’s largest opium crop, moving from field to field in southern Kandahar province with shearers and large sticks as angry farmers look on.

More than 300 Taliban prisoners were released today by Afghanistan’s new government after spending up to five years locked up by the Northern Alliance.