A roadside blast ripped through a vehicle in southern Afghanistan today, killing 14 villagers and wounding three as they travelled to a provincial capital for holiday celebrations, an official said.

At least 60 civilians have been killed this week during Nato operations in a volatile southern area of Afghanistan, government officials said today.

Nato troops killed 48 suspected militants in three separate battles in southern Afghanistan.

Airstrikes by Nato helicopters hunting Taliban fighters ripped through three dried mud homes in southern Afghanistan as villagers slept, killing at least nine civilians, including women and children, said residents and the provincial governor.

British commander General David Richards, Nato’s top commander in Afghanistan, said today the country was at a crucial point – and warned Afghans would probably switch their allegiance to resurgent Taliban militants if there were no visible improvements in people’s lives in the next six months.

A NATO soldier died today when militants exploded a roadside bomb and then opened fire on a military patrol in southern Afghanistan today.

A string of suicide bombings across Afghanistan killed 18 people, including four Canadian soldiers, today and wounded scores of others a day after Nato announced a victory over insurgents in a southern Taliban stronghold.

A suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked Canadian troops handing out sweets to children in southern Afghanistan today, killing four Nato soldiers and wounding many others, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast.

A suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan today, an Afghan official said.

Nato airstrikes and artillery have killed a further 92 suspected Taliban fighters, the alliance reported today, pushing its toll of militant dead in a 10-day offensive past 500.

Nato and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in airstrikes and ground attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said today.

US artillery and airstrikes killed between 50 and 60 suspected Taliban militants today, the fourth day of a Nato-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, a Nato spokesman said.

A CAR bomb targeting a British military convoy killed four Afghan civilians and one British soldier in the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday, NATO and Afghan officials said. Ten people were wounded.

Warplanes dropped bombs on suspected Taliban fighters hiding in orchards in a major Afghan-Nato offensive that the alliance said killed more than 200 militants in southern Afghanistan. Four Canadian soldiers were killed.

Warplanes today dropped bombs on suspected Taliban fighters hiding in orchards and ground troops fired artillery in a major Afghan-Nato offensive that killed more than 200 militants in southern Afghanistan.

Dozens of insurgents have been killed in an operation by Afghan and NATO forces to clear out Taliban fighters from a volatile district near the main southern city of Kandahar, NATO said today.

Afghan forces aided by NATO aircraft and artillery killed 71 suspected Taliban militants in running battles in southern Afghanistan that also left five Afghan troops dead in one of the bloodiest clashes since the 2001 US-led invasion.

A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up in a crowded town market in southern Afghanistan today, killing 21 civilians, near where Nato troops were on patrol, officials said.

A Canadian soldier and 10 militants were killed today in fierce fighting near an opium-rich Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the military said.

Canadian and Afghan troops have killed five Taliban militants in fierce clashes around an opium-rich southern village, the military said.

Two coalition soldiers were killed during a firefight in southern Afghanistan that also left about 45 militants dead, military officials said today.

US ARTILLERY and air strikes killed between 50 and 60 suspected Taliban militants yesterday, the fourth day of a Nato-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, a Nato spokesman said.

US-led coalition aircraft killed about 50 suspected Taliban rebels in an airstrike on a rebel stronghold in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said today.

Gun battles, mine blasts and US air strikes on the day of Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban election left 38 people dead today, including three police officers escorting freshly filled ballot boxes, Afghan officials said.

SUSPECTED Taliban shot dead two Afghan aid workers and one soldier and injured several others during raids in a district near the southern city of Kandahar, officials said yesterday.