Militants ambushed an Afghan police convoy with a roadside bomb and gunfire in eastern Afghanistan, killing five officers before fleeing Nato aerial bombardment, an official said today.

International troops and Afghan police seized 250 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser – enough to make hundreds of roadside bombs, the Taliban’s most lethal weapon in what has been the deadliest year of the war.

President Barack Obama won’t walk away from the war in Afghanistan, the White House declared, as Mr Obama faced tough decisions – and intense administration debate – over choices that could help define his presidency in his first year as commander in chief.

Roadside bombs have killed two more soldiers in southern Afghanistan following a deadly weekend that saw eight US troops killed in a Taliban attack.

The UN-backed commission investigating fraud in Afghanistan's election issued its first orders today to exclude some ballots from the final tally.

Nato is investigating claims that its planes killed 14 members of an Afghan civilian road construction crew while hunting Taliban fighters in a mountainous region.

A suicide attacker on foot blew himself up near a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan today, seriously wounding three civilians, while a roadside bomb killed a policeman in the east, officials said.

Six US troops and three Afghan soldiers died when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan, officials said today.

Followers of Osama bin Laden flooded Islamist websites today posting messages in celebration of his 50th birthday.

A roadside bomb killed two Nato soldiers and wounded two others on patrol in eastern Afghanistan today, the alliance said.

A clash between insurgents and Nato-led troops in eastern Afghanistan left three soldiers wounded, an alliance spokesman said.

Pakistan has told the US military that an Arab al-Qaida operative who masterminded the London jetliner terror plot is hiding in mountainous terrain in north-eastern Afghanistan, an intelligence official said today.

Coalition forces attacked a Taliban safe house and killed 14 militants today in eastern Afghanistan, the military said.

Five Afghan aid workers, including three who worked for a Swedish aid agency, have been abducted in eastern Afghanistan, a police official said today.

Some 2,000 Afghan security forces rushed to an eastern province today after dozens of suspected Taliban rebels wearing army uniforms killed eight police and soldiers in an attack on a region that has been largely peaceful in recent months, officials said.

Two Britons working for a security company were killed today in an attack, claimed by the Taliban, while helping the UN prepare for landmark elections in Afghanistan.

Two Britons working for a security company have been killed in an attack while helping the UN prepare for landmark elections in Afghanistan.