Three Afghan journalists held by coalition forces and Afghanistan’s intelligence service for allegedly spreading Taliban propaganda have been freed, Nato said today.

A suicide bomber targeting a Nato convoy in northern Afghanistan hit a passing bus full of wedding party guests today, killing a child and injuring 28 others, police said.

Twelve foreign soldiers, including seven Americans, were killed in separate attacks on the deadliest day of the year for Western forces in Afghanistan.

Four Afghan policemen were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the country’s north-west, the Interior Ministry said today.

A roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed four Nato troops today, as bombings and clashes elsewhere in the country killed 14 other people, officials said.

A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying the mayor of a key city in southern Afghanistan, killing a passer-by, while the US coalition and Afghan special forces killed five militants in the same region.

Airstrikes and clashes north of Kabul have killed 11 people, Afghan officials said today.

Nato forces killed four civilians and wounded three others today when they fired at a vehicle that did not stop at a checkpoint in Afghanistan's volatile south, the alliance said.

The military is investigating the shooting of civilians by British troops as they sped away from a suicide bomb attack in southern Afghanistan that injured three soldiers and killed three Afghans.

A Russian-made helicopter crashed in bad weather in the eastern Afghan mountains yesterday, killing all 16 on board, including at least two American civilians and two Dutch military officers, officials said today.

AFGHAN rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said he is proud that the US has branded him a terrorist and echoed Osama bin Laden’s call for suicide attacks against Americans, according to a statement released yesterday.

Explosions jolted the strategic northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif early today as United States warplanes targeted areas near the front lines in strikes coordinated with anti-Taliban fighters, Afghans on both sides said.