Kabul, Nov 19 : The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has reportedly admitted that NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan fired 20 artillery rounds at Taliban inside Pakistan after co-ordinating with Islamabad.

In a statement issued last evening, the ISAF said that it fired the artillery rounds on Sunday after Taliban attacked its troops in Afghanistan’s Paktika province with rockets from across the border.

“The artillery fire caused a secondary explosion at the rocket launch site, which indicates additional munitions in the location,” the Daily Times quoted the statement as saying.

Kabul - US-led coalition troops detained 14 militants in operations aimed at disrupting the movement of foreign fighters and attacks against international and Afghan forces in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

A US military statement said six insurgents were arrested in Tagab district including one alleged Taliban commander accused of planning and conducting "nefarious" activities. Coalition troops searched the compound without incident while protecting 19 women and 25 children during the operation, it added.

Troops captured four other militants including a suspected local Taliban commander during a search of a compound in Waghez district, Ghazni.

Kabul, Nov 18: The Taliban has reportedly rejected Afghan President Hamid Karzai's offer of protection of the group’s leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, if he joins peace talks with the government.

Only a day ago, Karzai had said that he would go “to any length” to protect Mullah Omar, the former leader of the country''s Taliban regime, who carries a 10 million dollar bounty on his head.

Kabul  - At least one civilian and two Afghan police were killed in a suicide attack in the Dand district of Kandahar province Monday. Two other people were injured in the attack.

Separately, eight Taliban militants were killed in a military operation in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

The suicide bomber in the Dand district wore a police uniform to attempt entry to police headquarters. When guards at the main gate stopped him, he detonated the explosives, said Zulmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial government.

Kabul - At least one civilian and two Afghan police were killed, while two others were injured in a suicide attack in Dand district of Kandahar province, officials said Monday.

The suicide bomber in police uniform was trying to enter into the Dand district headquarters when guards at the main gate stopped him, and he detonated the explosives, said Zulmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial government.

"There are no any casualties of the district officials reported but the explosion damaged the main entrance of the building," he added.

Kabul, Nov 17 : Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that he would go to “any extent” to protect the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in exchange for peace in the country.

Karzai said he would offer the protection even if it meant defying Afghanistan’s international partners, who could remove him from his job or leave the country in disagreement.