MASTER Sergeant Todd Nelson lost his right eye and ear in a flash when a car bomb in Afghanistan exploded, sending fire up his arm and over his head.

Hurricane Rita roared toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts early today, a major Category 4 storm that spurred a traffic-snarled exodus toward higher ground and fears it could cripple the heart of the US petrochemical industry.

The FBI had been hunting for two of the suicide hijackers who launched Tuesday's terror attacks for two weeks before they struck, it has been reported.