One of Britain’s highest ranking Royal Marines has branded the cold-blooded execution of an injured Afghan insurgent as “truly shocking and appalling”.

Fourteen Afghan soldiers and 64 Taliban militants have been killed in fighting and roadside bombings across the country in the past 24 hours.

Detectives are to question two people arrested over the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, described by family and friends as a loving family man who always wanted to serve in the British Army.

Three soldiers killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan yesterday have been confirmed as British by the Ministry of Defence. Their next of kin have been informed.

Insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms launched a suicide attack and stormed a courthouse in a failed bid to free Taliban inmates, killing at least 44 people.

The family of Cork-born soldier Michael Maguire are considering further legal options after an inquest found he was unlawfully killed by a single machine gun bullet fired by a colleague during a training exercise.

A US Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said.

A gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform has shot and killed a service member fighting with US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, according to Nato.

A British soldier from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards was killed in Afghanistan yesterday after his vehicle hit a roadside bomb, the UK's Ministry of Defence said. Next of kin have been told.

As Britain’s Prince Harry returns to Afghanistan to fly attack helicopters on the frontline, senior Taliban commanders have said they would use Afghan army recruits to try to either kidnap or assassinate him.

Taliban insurgents beheaded 17 Afghan civilians for taking part in a music event in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Six soldiers are missing, believed killed, after an armoured vehicle was caught in an explosion in Afghanistan, the UK's Ministry of Defence said today.

A roadside bomb has killed a district police chief in restive southern Afghanistan and his two bodyguards, police said.

Cheryl Cole's British soldier wants to take her to dinner as soon as his tour of duty ends.

Cheryl Cole has made a secret trip to Afghanistan to boost troops' morale.

A British Royal Marine has been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Two members of the British Army’s Counter-IED Task Force today described the “mentally draining” task of clearing a bomb factory in southern Afghanistan.

US President Barack Obama congratulated the Prince of Wales on the wedding of his son Prince William to wife Kate when the two met for talks.

TAKING part in ceremonial duties for the royal wedding will be a family affair for the Irish Guards, its members said yesterday.

A British soldier killed in a landmine blast in Afghanistan has been laid to rest beside his baby daughter in the North.

The body of a soldier from the North killed in Afghanistan will be repatriated today.

A UK businessman set off today on an ambitious world record attempt to run 66 ultra-marathons in 66 days and raise £1m (€1.15m) for charity.

A soldier from 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment who was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan has been named by the UK's Ministry of Defence as Lance Corporal Stephen McKee.

A bomb disposal expert has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

A series of bomb blasts and militant attacks killed 11 people across Afghanistan, including five Nato service members and three Afghan police.

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.

Five US troops were killed in new Afghan attacks today following yesterday's Taliban assault in Kandahar.

A rogue Afghan soldier was being hunted today after he killed three British troops and wounded another four.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today ordered an investigation into reports that his forces fired on international troops in the country’s south, killing three.

A Royal Marine has been killed in a blast in Sangin in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The US’s Afghanistan war commander General Stanley McChrystal has been called to the White House after President Barack Obama rebuked him for “poor judgement” and considered whether to fire him.

BRITAIN announced its 300th death in Afghanistan yesterday, prompting Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge he will withdraw troops as soon as the war-torn state can handle its own security.

DAVID BECKHAM yesterday paid tribute to fallen British soldiers during his morale-boosting visit to Afghanistan.

A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations in Afghanistan today, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of the southern Taliban heartland.

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defence said today.

A British soldier was killed today following a firefight in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

Nato admitted accidentally killing at least 27 Afghan civilians today, the third attack this month to have hit the wrong target.

A bomb at a mosque in Pakistan’s north-western tribal belt killed 29 people today.

Sniper teams attacked US Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah in Afghanistan as several gun battles erupted on the third day of a major offensive to seize the extremists’ southern heartland.

Twelve Afghans died today when two rockets fired at insurgents missed their target and struck a house during the second day of Operation Moshtarak – Nato’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on the country’s dangerous south.

The fiercest military offensive on the Taliban since the conflict in Afghanistan began has so far gone “as well as it could have done”, British Army chiefs said today.

Two British troops have died in Afghanistan, bringing the UK death toll in the conflict level with that of the 1982 Falklands War.

Two British soldiers have been killed by roadside blasts while on foot patrol in Afghanistan.

A soldier from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment has died after an explosion in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defence (MOD) said today.