Conservative religious politicians in Afghanistan blocked legislation today aimed at strengthening provisions for women’s freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

An Afghan provincial police chief and an official in charge of women’s affairs were killed in separate attacks today – the latest victims of a campaign of targeted killings against government officials.

A suicide bomber has blown himself up in a wedding hall in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 23 people including a prominent warlord-turned-politician and three Afghan security force officials, in an attack that deals a setback to efforts to unify the nation’s ethnic factions, Afghan officials said.

A group of suicide attackers stormed a government compound in western Afghanistan today, killing at least seven people, officials said.

Fifteen people have been killed after suicide bombers struck two government offices in southern and western Afghanistan as militants step up attacks across the country, authorities said.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others injured in a suicide bomb attack outside a government office in western Afghanistan during rush-hour today, authorities said.

A suicide bomber in a four-wheel-drive vehicle detonated his cache of explosives in western Afghanistan today, killing nine people and wounding 21.

A roadside bomb has killed at least 20 passengers travelling on a minibus in western Afghanistan, police said.

Insurgents attacked three convoys ferrying fuel and supplies to Nato troops stationed in western and eastern Afghanistan, killing nine Afghan security guards and torching at least 15 fuel tankers.

A suicide attacker blew up an explosives-packed car today at the gates of an Italian military base in western Afghanistan, killing several people, officials said.

The Afghan government says militants are attacking an Italian military base in western Afghanistan. A suicide attacker blew up a bomb-packed car outside the base and a gunbattle is ongoing.

Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-1989

Afghans have rioted for a second day over the burning of a Koran in the US, killing nine people in Kandahar and injuring more than 80 in a wave of violence that underscored rising anti-foreign sentiment after nearly a decade of war.

Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a church in the US has fuelled a second day of deadly violence in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops on fire in a riot which left nine protesters dead.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said his security forces will soon take charge of security in seven areas around the country – the first step towards his goal of having Afghan police and soldiers protecting the entire nation by the end of 2014.

Four Nato soldiers were killed across Afghanistan by roadside bombs and an insurgent attack today.

Fourteen people died today when a roadside bomb destroyed a crowded minibus in western Afghanistan.

A suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed car has blown up the entrance to a United Nations office in western Afghanistan, allowing at least three other militants to storm the building, officials said today.

Nine Afghans guarding a Nato convoy in the south of the country have been killed in the latest terrorist attack on supply routes.

SEVEN US troops have died in weekend attacks in Afghanistan’s embattled southern and eastern regions, while officials found the bodies of five kidnapped campaign aides working for a female candidate in the western province of Herat.

Afghan villagers today found the bodies of five kidnapped campaign workers for a parliamentary candidate in the western province of Herat.

Insurgents launched pre-dawn attacks today on a major Nato base in eastern Afghanistan and a nearby camp where seven CIA employees were killed last year in a suicide bombing.

Insurgents killed eight Afghan policemen today in a raid on a checkpoint outside the northern city of Kunduz, local police said.

Two Spanish police trainers were shot dead by their Afghan driver during a training session in western Afghanistan today.

The CIA has signed a $100 million (€80m) contract with the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Afghanistan’s parliament dealt a stinging rebuke to President Hamid Karzai today by rejecting 70% of his nominees for a new Cabinet.

Four police officers have been killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, the latest in a string of deadly attacks.

Italy today denied that its secret services bribed the Taliban to stop them killing its soldiers patrolling in Afghanistan.

A top member of President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet threatened to quit after a suicide car bomb targeted him, killing five people, in the latest Taliban attempt to destabilise Afghanistan’s struggling government.

Police said a bomb targeting Afghanistan’s energy minister exploded outside a girl’s high school in the country’s west.

CHARGES of fraud in Afghanistan’s presidential election are extensive enough that they could sway the final result, the commission investigating the complaints said yesterday.

A former regular soldier who was born in Co Derry has been killed in Afghanistan while working for a private security firm, it was confirmed today.

A remote-controlled bomb targeting a police convoy killed 12 people today in western Afghanistan, a day after three American soldiers died in a complex militant ambush in the country’s east.

A battle in a militant-controlled region of western Afghanistan killed 30 insurgents and nine Afghan soldiers, while a roadside bomb in the country’s north wounded an Afghan governor, officials said today.

A roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan wounded the governor of Kunduz province today, while violence around the country killed 17 people, officials said.

MARRIED at 14 and a mother at 15, Suraya Pakzad seemed certain to follow the path of most women in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, facing a future without a vote, a voice or a choice in her destiny.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s brother denied today that he has ever been involved in the heroin trade, and accused US officials of fabricating allegations to harm the president.

The US military says it has new information about an American attack that Afghanistan says killed 90 civilians and is sending a senior military officer to the country to review its initial conclusion that no more than seven people died.

An Afghan human rights group said today that at least 88 people, including 20 women, were killed in a joint Afghan-US coalition military operation in western Afghanistan.

US-led troops attacked a compound where Taliban leaders were meeting in western Afghanistan, killing 30 militants, American and Afghan military officials said today.

TALIBAN militants attacked a police checkpoint in the south and killed 16 officers, officials said yesterday.

The Taliban’s newly-named top field commander has used his first public statement today to warn that new recruits were volunteering as suicide bombers and that Taliban fighters would continue their holy war until Western powers leave Afghanistan.

Fresh airstrikes in a volatile southern Afghan region killed up to 10 Taliban fighters close to where villagers say about 40 civilians died during a battle earlier this week, and the US-led coalition said local Afghans feared more militant attacks.

Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan today, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him and killed a man in a bakery.