Kabul - An Afghan army soldier killed two US-led coalition soldiers and wounded a third before shooting himself to death in northern Afghanistan on Friday, the US military said.

"One coalition service member was killed today, another died of wounds, and a third was wounded by an Afghan National Army soldier who reportedly fired upon them," the US military said in statement, adding that the Afghan soldier killed himself immediately after the shooting.

Mexico City  - Human rights activists denounced Friday the acquittal of former Mexican president Luis Echeverria in connection with the Tlatelolco Massacre of October 2, 1968.

Echeverria, 87, was acquitted Thursday by a federal court in connection with the killings of students who had gathered for a peaceful demonstration at a square in Mexico City while he was the country's Interior minister.

London - Leading British contemporary artist David Hockney has said he is furious with tree-fellers who chopped down an ancient forest he had planned to paint in all four seasons.

Hockney, 71, had completed the winter and summer paintings of trees near his home in Yorkshire, northern England, but was shocked to find just sawn trunks and discarded branches when he arrived to do his study of spring, the Guardian reported Friday.

He described was a saw as a "massacre ... like a scene from the first world war," said the Guardian.

Baghdad - At least 17 people were killed and at least 35 more were wounded when a truck loaded with explosives blew up in a crowded market in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. It was the second bombing in greater Baghdad this week.

An Interior Ministry official, who spoke to the German Press Agency dpa on condition of anonymity, said he feared the number of dead and wounded could rise because of the intensity of the blast, which hit eastern Baghdad's Shalal market at midday.

London  - A British artist whose inflatable sculpture killed two women when it broke free from its moorings was Thursday fined 10,000 pounds (14,457 dollars) by a court in Newcastle, north- east Britain.

Maurice Agis, 77, from London, was convicted for the breach of Health and Safety procedures after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the original charge of manslaughter.

Athens/London - Pirates have hijacked two chemical tankers off the coast of Somalia over the past two days, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in London on Thursday.

IMB spokesman Cyrus Mody said a Panama-flagged ship, was seized on Wednesday while a second ship, which is registered in the Bahamas, was taken on Thursday.

Reports in Athens said the 9,000-ton Panama-flagged Nipayia is Greek-owned and had 19 crew members. It was attacked 720 kilometres off Somalia.