About 300 families have already fled a southern Afghan town ahead of a major new offensive planned on a key Taliban stronghold, provincial officials said today.

A suicide bomber struck outside the home of a southern Afghan provincial governor today, killing or wounding 18 people, officials said.

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

US Marine reconnaissance units are investigating more aggressively in the southern Afghan desert.