A rocket exploded in a packed school near a US-led coalition base in eastern Afghanistan today, killing seven children and wounding 34 other people, officials said.

A rocket exploded in the middle of a packed school in eastern Afghanistan today. Six children were killed and 14 other people wounded, police said.

Rebels attacked a US military medical team as it was helping villagers in the same region of eastern Afghanistan where a US airstrike that killed up to 17 civilians sparked sharp criticism from the government.

Warplanes pounded a suspected Taliban compound in the Afghan mountains near where an elite American military team was missing, while a transport plane flew home the bodies of 16 US troops killed when their special forces helicopter was shot down while trying to rescue the missing team, officials said.

A SMALL team of American soldiers was missing last night in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week.

US forces desperately scoured rugged Afghan mountains today for a small team of soldiers missing after fierce fighting that included the shooting down of a special forces helicopter with 16 troops aboard earlier this week, US officials said.

American soldiers were today identifying the remains of 16 troops killed when their special forces helicopter was shot down and plunged into a mountain ravine in eastern Afghanistan.

THE bodies of 13 American troops have been recovered from the crash of a US helicopter in eastern Afghanistan, but seven more soldiers are unaccounted for and some may have been captured.

THE US military said yesterday that hostile fire likely brought down a Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan, and officials said the status of the 17 American soldiers aboard was unknown.

A US Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan was likely shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American servicemembers is unclear, the US military said today. The Taliban claimed to have attacked the aircraft.

Two US marines were killed and another one wounded during an operation in violence-plagued eastern Afghanistan, the military said in Kabul today.

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 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.

A B-52 bomber and two fighter jets pounded a suspected rebel position after attackers fired two rockets at a US base in north-eastern Afghanistan.

GERMAN military aviation experts arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday to investigate the cause of a helicopter crash which killed all seven German peacekeepers on board.

NEW foot soldiers for Islam’s holy war are streaming into al-Qaida training camps recently reactivated in eastern Afghanistan, a United Nations report has said.

Coalition forces detained four men after several rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a US special operations forces base in eastern Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said today.

UP TO 15 people were reported dead yesterday after guerillas attacked an Afghan army base south of Kabul.

US soldiers on patrol in eastern Afghanistan have killed four men who opened fire on them in the second attack on American forces in the region in two days.