Five civilians, including a three-year-old child, were killed when a minivan hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, authorities said today.

Rockets have crashed into a US base and a house in northern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, killing two Nato soldiers and three civilians, officials say.

A Nato helicopter crash-landed today in eastern Afghanistan, just days after the downing of a Chinook dispatched to bring in reinforcements for elite troops under attack.

The US Navy SEALs whose helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan had rushed to the mountainous area to help a US Army Ranger unit that was under fire from insurgents, officials say.

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

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said 31 US special forces and seven Afghan soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Wardak province.

A crowd of about 300 villagers yelled “death to the US” and blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan today as they swore that US forces had killed three innocent villagers, officials said.

US-led coalition forces clashed with suspected militants in central Afghanistan, leaving several insurgents dead and detaining two, a statement from the coalition said.

Four employees with the International Committee of the Red Cross, kidnapped earlier this week in Afghanistan, were freed in good health today, officials said.

The US-led coalition today accused the Taliban of using children as human shields during a battle in southern Afghanistan, while Nato said it was investigating a shipment of weapons intercepted near the border with Iran.

A suicide bomber on foot blew himself up next to a police vehicle in Afghanistan’s volatile south today, wounding eight policemen, an official said.

Suspected Taliban militants attacked a district office in central Afghanistan in a clash that left 15 militants and two officers dead, the ministry of interior said in a statement today.