A military helicopter has crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 US special operation troops and seven Afghan commandos, the country’s president said today.

Angered by civilian casualties, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that he will no longer allow Nato air strikes on houses.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued a warning to Washington after 12 children and two women died in a Nato-led airstrike in southern Afghanistan.

Nato and Afghan troops killed 17 insurgents in an hours-long gun battle in southern Helmand province, an Afghan official said today.

Nine service members with the international coalition in Afghanistan died today when their helicopter crashed in the volatile south where troops are ramping up pressure on Taliban insurgents.

BRITISH Defence Secretary Liam Fox has urged shops to ban a computer game where players can act as the Taliban and kill British troops.

Britain's Defence Secretary Liam Fox has urged shops to ban a computer game where players can act as the Taliban and kill British troops.

At least seven bodies have been recovered after a Taliban attack on a road construction crew in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province.

Three more Nato service members died today from fighting in Afghanistan, officials said.

The Afghan government took official control of the southern Taliban stronghold of Marjah today as Nato troops worked to root out final pockets of militants.

Troops raised the Afghan flag in the bullet-ridden main market of the Taliban’s southern stronghold of Marjah today as fighting continued elsewhere in town.

Taliban fighters are increasingly using civilians as human shields in the assault on the southern town of Marjah, an Afghan official said today as military squads resumed painstaking house-to-house searches in the Taliban stronghold.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama was last night expected to announce he would send 30,000-34,000 more troops to Afghanistan over six months, an accelerated timetable – with an endgame built in – that would have the first marines there by Christmas.

BOMB blasts killed four US marines in southern Afghanistan, where thousands of American troops have deployed in recent weeks as part of an offensive in the country’s dangerous drug-producing region, an official said yesterday.

A roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan wounded the governor of Kunduz province today, while violence around the country killed 17 people, officials said.

Video evidence recorded by fighter jets and the account of the ground commander suggest no more than 30 civilians were killed in a two-day battle in western Afghanistan this month, the US military said, a stark contrast with Afghan claims that 140 civilians died.

THE Northern political process remains unshakeable despite the murder of two soldiers by the Real IRA, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday.

Australia’s prime minister made a surprise visit to the country’s troops in Afghanistan to wish them a merry Christmas in what he described as a “hellhole”.

At least nine Afghan soldiers were killed by US planes in a “friendly fire” incident today.

A roadside bomb blast killed two Nato soldiers patrolling in eastern Afghanistan and wounded one other, the alliance said today.

A roadside bomb in western Afghanistan left three civilians dead and 48 wounded, including 10 children.

SUSPECTED Taliban militants hanged an old woman and her son from a tree in southern Afghanistan, after accusing them of spying for the Government.

A coalition forces airstrike killed a local Taliban commander and 15 other militants in fighting in southern Afghanistan, the US military said today.

British troops killed nine suspected insurgents in southern Afghanistan, a military spokesman said today.

A roadside bomb killed three policemen patrolling in southern Afghanistan, an official said today.

Suspected Taliban militants hanged an old woman and her son from a tree in southern Afghanistan, after accusing them of spying for the government, an official said today.

Afghanistan’s foreign minister today urged the international community to do more to stem the flow of Islamic extremists, weapons and terror funding into the country.

US-LEAD coalition and Afghan forces have killed 25 suspected Taliban in Afghanistan’s volatile south, while Canadian troops from a NATO-led security force narrowly escaped a suicide bombing near where four fellow soldiers died in militant attacks the previous day.

The resurgent Taliban militia are a tactical problem for the US-led coalition but cannot not take over Afghanistan again, a top US general said, as the US-led coalition today reported that two of its soldiers were wounded in the volatile south.

US-led coalition troops kiled seven suspected Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan as Australia announced today that six of its special forces soldiers were wounded in the same area earlier this month.

Two Canadian soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a coalition vehicle in Afghanistan.

Afghan and US-led coalition forces backed by helicopter gunships killed 19 suspected Taliban in southern Helmand province as NATO prepares to take command of the volatile region, a local official said today.

A massive anti-insurgent operation in southern Afghanistan has “seriously disrupted” the Taliban network operating in the region, the US military said today.

Afghan and US-led coalition forces have killed more than 30 members of the Taliban in separate clashes in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

A Northern soldier killed in Afghanistan was totally committed to his job, mourners today heard.

Coalition forces killed about 35 militants during a raid on a Taliban compound in southern Afghanistan, the military said today.

SOUTHERN Afghanistan will witness “significant fighting” between US-led coalition and Taliban forces for several months before Nato takes control of the region, the US army warned yesterday.

An 11,000-strong assault is to be launched on militants in the southern mountains of Afghanistan, the biggest offensive since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire on a former regional Taliban leader in south-western Pakistan today, killing him before fleeing, police said.

Al-Qaida has sent several fighters from Iraq to join insurgents in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said after interrogating an Iraqi suspect who was caught sneaking across the country’s western border.

A series of battles in volatile southern and eastern Afghanistan killed 14 suspected militants, a US soldier and an Afghan soldier, while suspected Taliban rebels fatally shot six civilians in a strong of assaults, officials said today.

ARMED police escorted trucks carrying ballots to polling stations yesterday in preparation for weekend legislative elections in Afghanistan, as militant attacks kept tension high and a purported Taliban spokesman urged people to boycott the landmark vote.

Taliban rebels today urged Afghans to boycott this weekend’s legislative elections that many are hoping will marginalise the insurgents, while a candidate was shot dead and four other people were killed in bombings near polling stations, officials said.

Armed police escorted trucks carrying ballots to polling stations today in preparation for weekend legislative elections in Afghanistan, as militant attacks kept tension high and a purported Taliban spokesman urged people to boycott the landmark vote.