Celebrations across America as U.S. special forces shoot dead terror chief in mansion hideaway in Pakistan

* Terror chief blasted in head after refusing offer to surrender
* Three adults including Bin Laden's 'son' reportedly killed in raid
* Compound was yards from Pakistan's 'Sandhurst' military academy
* Body buried at sea after Saudi Arabia 'declines to take corpse'
* DNA tests 99.9 per cent certain man killed WAS Bin Laden
* U.S. embassies on alert over Al Qaeda reprisal attacks
* Barack Obama declares 'Justice has been done'
* David Cameron says death is 'massive step forward'

Osama Bin Laden has been killed by the U.S. military after a decade-long hunt to avenge the 9/11 attacks, President Barack Obama has revealed.

The 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda was dramatically killed last night in a firefight with American special forces in a $1million mansion hideout around 60 miles from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Experts used facial recognition techniques to identify the slain terrorist and performed DNA tests,
which are said to be 99.9 per cent certain man killed WAS Bin Laden.

U.S. officials have told broadcaster CNN that Bin Laden's body has already been buried at sea in order to prevent the grave from becoming a shrine for extremists.

 Carnage: Blood can be seen on the floor from where Osama was reportedly surrounded by three men, including his son, and a woman who formed a human shield against U.S. troops.Gun fight: A pool of blood on the floor suggests that one Al Qaeda member was shot close to their bed, while right, a wardrobe pulled open by U.S troops to ensure that none of Bin Laden's clan were hiding in the room.Pit of evil: A king size bed where Bin Laden may have once slept at the secretive compound in Abbottabad. Blood from a gun battle can be seen at the foot of the mattress

Hideout: The bin Laden compound was found only a few hundred yards from the military academy known as Pakistan's Sandhurst in the garrison town of Abbottabad, Pakistan

In a dramatic statement late last night, President Obama said the U.S. military had recovered Bin Laden's body and confirmed to the world he had finally been killed.

‘Tonight I can report to the American people and the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children,’ he said. ‘Justice has been done’.

Officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition. That practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours. Saudi Arabia reportedly declined to take the body.

Within minutes of the news breaking, Americans began gathering outside the White House to sing the national anthem and chant: ‘USA! USA!'

In a spontaneous outpouring of emotion, thousands started cheering and clapping and waving American flags to show their support.

Large groups of Americans still hurting from the 9/11 attacks also gathered at 'ground zero' in New York to celebrate the news.

Paul Lagrandier, a retired New York firefighter who was part of the rescue for September 11 said he felt mixed emotions.

He told MailOnline: 'I'm saddened for the people who were affected by the tragedy and have to go through all this again.'

When asked what he thought about why it took so long to track down the terrorist, he said: 'I just knew we were working at it and we kept working at it. They stayed the course and accomplished the mission.'

But the terror chief's death will undoubtedly put the Middle East on high alert for reprisal attacks. It will also lead to urgent demands from Washington as to how the most wanted man was allowed to seek refuge in a supposedly allied country as Pakistan.

U.S. military sources revealed tonight that Bin Laden had been taken by surprise by the attack by a small team of U.S. Navy Seals who landed in the grounds of the compound under the cover of nightfall.

He had been living at the luxury home with his youngest wife Amal al-Sadah.

The facility, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, is in a suburban part of Pakistan, although it is unclear if the country's officials or local residents knew that Bin Laden lived there.

Details of his residence - in a major hub for tourists visiting the region - will cast new questions over Britain's relationship with Pakistan. British aid to the country was last year doubled to £60m.

During an operation in which troops were on the ground for just 40 minutes, they stormed the terror chief's hideaway.

Four helicopters took part in the attack on the two-storey house, which is understood to be within 100 yards of a military building in Abbottabad, a garrison town which is home to thousands of Pakistani troops.

According to Pakistani officials in the town, fighters on the roof opened fire with rocket propelled grenades as the aircraft came close to the building. Pakistani officials and local people said one of the helicopters crashed.

In a dramatic finale, it is said that Bin Laden was offered the chance to surrender. But the leader, who had always said he would not be captured alive, refused and was blasted in the eye by troops.

Three of the terror leader's men, including a man believed to be his own son, were also killed in the raid alongside a woman. They reportedly tried to act as a human shield in a furious firefight.

U.S troops returned to the damaged helicopter, but they were forced to carry Bin Laden's body to a working aircraft.

Pictures showing a bloodied face were later played on Pakistani TV. The beard and hair are both noticeably darker than they have appeared to be in previous videos of Bin Laden, and there were later suggestions that the picture had been faked.

In his televised statement Mr Obama said that Bin Laden was killed in a helicopter raid by a small group of U.S. Navy Seals who stormed his mansion in an affluent area 80 miles from Islamabad.

They were working on a tip which first surfaced last August after ‘years of painstaking work’ from the CIA and had taken months to run it into the ground.

‘Last week I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action and authorised an operation to get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice,’ Mr Obama said.

'Today at my direction the U.S. launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. After a firefight they killed Osama Bin Laden and took custody of his body.’

Experts said that by taking out Bin Laden, American special forces had cut off the 'head of the snake'.

But U.S. military posts around the world had been put on alert in case of retaliation attacks by Islamic radicals.

The State Department warned of the heightened possibility for anti-American violence after the news of Bin Laden's death.

The department issued a worldwide travel alert shortly after Mr Obama's announcement. They warned of an 'enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan'.

It continued: 'Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, U.S. citizens in areas where recent events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations.'

CIA Director Leon Panetta said al Qaeda would 'almost certainly' try to avenge bin Laden's death.

'Though Bin Laden is dead, al Qaeda is not. The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must - and will - remain vigilant and resolute,' Panetta said.

September 11: Bin Laden became a byword for terrorism around the world after he ordered the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in 2001

 Peace: A woman makes a sign for peace as she celebrates among the crowds who chanted 'USA, USA' outside the White House shortly after Obama made the announcement

Justice: For these New Yorkers the memory of the atrocity committed on 9/11 still real, but there was a glimmer of hope today as they converged on the site of the World Trade Centre

Hideout: The bin Laden compound was found only a few hundred yards from the military academy known as Pakistan's Sandhurst in the garrison town of Abbottabad, Pakistan

 Mixed emotions: Grief etched into his face, a father among cheering crowds outside the White House clutches the pictures of his son killed on 9/11, while right, two supporters pain their faces with the colours of the USA

Attacked: A picture claiming to show Bin Laden's bloodied face was played on Pakistani TV although claims later emerged that the image had been faked

 World news: How The Wall Street Journal and USA Today reported the death of Bin Laden

Abbattobad: The remote town in northern Pakistan, named after James Abbott, the British major who founded the town in 1853, sits beneath towering hills

They day they had waited for: Dionne Layne, facing camera, hugs Mary Power in the shadow of the Freedom Tower in New York as they react to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden

 A decade of hurt: The powerful headlines in the New York Post and the New York Daily News reflected the public anger towards Bin Laden

Confirmed kill: The FBI changed their most wanted terrorists site to show that Bin Laden is now 'deceased'

Obama: Osama bin Laden killed in shootout

 News anchors prepare to go live from the briefing room as US President Barack Obama delivers remarks to the nation from the White House in Washington, May 1, 2011.

 US President Barack Obama announcing live on television the death of Osama bin Laden from the White House in Washington yesterday, May 1, 2011

 May 26, 1998 file photo of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The elusive Al Qaeda leader is dead and his body has been recovered by US authorities, CNN reported yesterday, May 1, 2011

 Firemen battle the fires in the Pentagon after a hijacked airliner crashed into the building in this September 11, 2001 file photo. Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of the attack.

 The World Trade Center towers in New York burn on September 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of the attacks on New York and Washington.

People cheer and wave US flags outside the White House as President Obama delivers his remarks to the nation.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

“Justice has been done,” Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.

It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, and could give him a political boost as he seeks re-election in 2012.

And it was at least a huge symbolic blow to al Qaeda, the militant organisation that has staged bloody attacks in many Western and Arab cities, and has been the subject of a worldwide campaign against it.





Obama said US forces led a targeted operation that killed bin Laden in Abbotabad, north of Islamabad. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

In Washington, thousands of people gathered quickly outside the White House, waving American flags, cheering and chanting “USA, USA, USA”. People in cars blew their horns in celebration and people streamed to Lafayette Park across from the presidential mansion. Police vehicles with their lights flashing stood vigil.

“I’m down here to witness the history,” Laura Vogler, a junior at American University in Washington, said outside the White House. “My boyfriend is commissioning as a Marine next week. So I’m really proud of the troops.”

Many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden after he vanished in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in late 2001 as US and allied forces invaded the country in response to the September 11 attacks.

Intelligence that originated last August provided the clues that eventually led to bin Laden’s trail, the president said. A US official said Obama gave the final order to pursue the operation last Friday morning.

“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” Obama said.

A crowd gathered in Lafayette Park outside the White House erupted in jubilation at the news. Hundreds of people waved flags, hugged and cheered.

Bipartisan cheerWASHINGTON, May 2 — Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

“Justice has been done,” Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.


t is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, and could give him a political boost as he seeks re-election in 2012.

And it was at least a huge symbolic blow to al Qaeda, the militant organisation that has staged bloody attacks in many Western and Arab cities, and has been the subject of a worldwide campaign against it.

Obama said US forces led a targeted operation that killed bin Laden in Abbotabad, north of Islamabad. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

In Washington, thousands of people gathered quickly outside the White House, waving American flags, cheering and chanting “USA, USA, USA”. People in cars blew their horns in celebration and people streamed to Lafayette Park across from the presidential mansion. Police vehicles with their lights flashing stood vigil.

“I’m down here to witness the history,” Laura Vogler, a junior at American University in Washington, said outside the White House. “My boyfriend is commissioning as a Marine next week. So I’m really proud of the troops.”

Many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden after he vanished in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan in late 2001 as US and allied forces invaded the country in response to the September 11 attacks.

Intelligence that originated last August provided the clues that eventually led to bin Laden’s trail, the president said. A US official said Obama gave the final order to pursue the operation last Friday morning.

“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” Obama said.

A crowd gathered in Lafayette Park outside the White House erupted in jubilation at the news. Hundreds of people waved flags, hugged and cheered.

Bipartisan cheer

Former President George W. Bush, who famously vowed to bring bin Laden to justice “dead or alive” but never did, called the operation a “momentous achievement” after Obama called him with the news.

Martin Indyk, a former US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, described bin Laden’s death as “a body blow” to al Qaeda at a time when its ideology was already being undercut by the popular revolutions in the Arab world.

Statements of appreciation poured in from both sides of Washington’s often divided political divide. Republican Senator John McCain declared, “I am overjoyed that we finally got the world’s top terrorist”.

Said former President Bill Clinton: “I congratulate the president, the national security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al Qaeda attacks.”

Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.

Bin Laden had been hunted since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan close to the Pakistan frontier in 2001.

The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.

Besides September 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks — including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.

US commander seeks 2,000 new troops for Afghanistan

US commander seeks 2,000 new troops for Afghanistan

The US and NATO commander in Afghanistan has requested another 2,000 troops for the foreign force fighting the Taliban insurgency, despite waning support for the war in troop-contributing nations, NATO officials said.

NATO officials said the request by General David Petraeus to bolster the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was made last week and included a call for about 750 more personnel to train the Afghan security forces.

“It has been determined that around 2,000 forces will be required,” a NATO official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There is an ongoing discussion on this issue.”

 

 

The request comes before a visit to Washington on Monday and Tuesday by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Officials at Petraeus’ NATO command in Kabul declined to comment and referred questions to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

One NATO official said it was assumed the United States would offer more troops to the 150,000-strong foreign force in Afghanistan, but the alliance was looking for contributions from non-US members and partner countries too.

NATO has been seeking to bolster its effort to train the Afghan armed forces, but has struggled to persuade its 28 members and allies contributing to ISAF to commit the necessary personnel as public support for the war wanes.

NATO’s Afghan mission was expected to top the agenda in Rasmussen’s talks with US President Barack Obama, National Security Adviser James Jones and other administration officials.

Obama has sent tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan to create conditions to expand Afghan forces, but has said the extra troops could be gradually withdrawn from July 2011.

Critics say this strategy has backfired, sending a signal to the Taliban that the United States is preparing to wind down at a time when NATO forces are suffering record casualties.

The number of foreign troops killed this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to an independent monitoring site on Monday and a Reuters tally.

Petraeus said last week the withdrawal of US troops from next July would begin with a general “thinning out” of forces rather than any large-scale drawdown.

The stepped-up NATO training effort envisages boosting the size of the Afghan army to 171,600 by October 2011 and the police force to 134,000.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a goal of 2014 for Afghan forces to take over full responsibility for security from foreign troops, but the deadline will rely heavily on the success of foreign troops in battling Taliban insurgents and training the Afghan army.

Rasmussen hopes at a summit in November to set a target date in 2011 for starting switching responsibility for security to Afghan forces. Until midway through this year he had said he hoped the process could start this year.

Hllary Clinton in Kabul ahead of key conference

Times Square bomb plot spotlights larger U.S. fear-Waves of smaller attacks could be devastating, officials

After the failed bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence officials told the White House what kept them awake at night was the risk that militants could launch waves of small scale attacks on hard-to-protect targets on U.S. soil.



After the failed bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence officials told the White House what kept them awake at night was the risk that militants could launch waves of small scale attacks on hard-to-protect targets on U.S. soil.

The "nightmare" of nuclear terrorism was the theme of President Barack Obama's security summit last month, but many in the U.S. intelligence community believe the chances that al Qaeda will obtain atomic weapons are at the low end of the probability scale and they have more immediate fears.

More likely, they say, al Qaeda and other groups could shift focus to less-sophisticated violent attacks on "soft targets" that have the potential over time to do as much economic damage as another massive Sept. 11-style event.



One official said Saturday's botched car bombing in New York's Times Square, and other recent plots, could be a sign that militant groups, hard-hit by U.S. drone strikes targeting their leaders, were starting to "figure this out."

"They do have the strategic goal of doing something catastrophic to this country," an official said on condition of anonymity. "But we think it's more likely that we'll see a series of smaller-scale attacks -- the subway, the shopping mall -- vulnerable targets that you can't harden."

Such attacks are tough to crack because they often involve American citizens who are unlikely to appear on any government watch lists and are harder to track than suspects overseas because of U.S. law, officials said.

"Most Americans believe that terrorism, proxy wars, violent criminal gangs, and insurgencies affect people elsewhere, said said Georgetown University's Roy Godson, outlining a study on how the "Times Square Bomb Foreshadows Threats to Come."

"The reality is that irregular conflict conducted by armed groups, and states that ally with them, will be our most prevalent and enduring threat for decades."

Frances Townsend, homeland security adviser under former President George W. Bush, pointed to what she called a "dangerous shift" from simultaneous, mass-casualty plots to "higher probability but lower consequence events" that are more difficult to detect and disrupt.

POOL OF SOFT TARGETS

During White House meetings immediately after the Christmas Day plot, intelligence and counterterrorism officials voiced concerns about a wave of smaller attacks, officials said.

Obama vowed to beef up defenses at U.S. ports of entry and improve the capabilities of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. But officials say there are limits to what can be done quickly to protect a vast pool of potential soft targets.

There are about 450 commercial airports and more than 50,000 malls and shopping centers that National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and CIA chief Leon Panetta have both warned could be targets for attack.

"We've had a lot of success in knocking down the terrorists so that I have pretty high confidence that the kind of thing they did on 9/11 we'd be able to stop," Blair said recently. "But that's forced them to go into smaller pieces and that's going to be harder... We have to raise our game and I think we can."

That concern was part of the rationale behind the White House's decision to authorize the CIA to kill American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Counterterrorism officials see Awlaki as a potent threat because they believe he understands better than most how to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities.

A key figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Awlaki has been linked to both the Nigerian suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing and to the Army psychiatrist accused of shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas on Nov. 5.

Inspired in part by Awlaki, AQAP has taken the lead in plotting "less-than-spectacular" attacks that are easier to plan and relatively cheap to carry out, officials say.

Prosecutors said Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad admitted trying to detonate a bomb in New York's Times Square and receiving bomb-making training in a Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan.

"This is a blow back, this is a reaction" to the CIA drone strikes, Pakistani Foreign Minister told CBS News. "Let's not be naive. They're not going to sort of sit and welcome you to eliminate them. They're going to fight back."

Since the summer of 2008, CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas have killed more 500 militant, according to U.S. estimates. The vast majority of those killed have been lower-level fighters.

Mogadishu blasts kill 34, injure almost 70: medics-Blasts at Somali mosque kill at least 30: witnesses

Somalia's transitional government condemned the blasts

Causality figures in the Mogadishu mosque explosions on Saturday include 34 dead and almost 70 wounded, hospital sources said.

Local hospitals and emgercy services say that the death toll now stands at 34 while almost 70 others have been admitted to the Daynile Hospital on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu.

Witnesses at the scene of the blast speak of carnage and confusion, with dozens of dead and wounded people lying on the floor of the mosque following the twin explosions in the packed mosque in the main Bakara market in Mogadishu

An Islamist official of the Al Shabaab Islamist groups was among the injured in the attack on a mosque frequented by supporters of Islamist Al Shabaab movement.

The group's senior leader Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, who was at the mosque at the time and "slightly" injured in the arms, was the target of the attack, according to Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rageh.

Rageh accused foreign security firms operating inside Mogadishu of being behind the attack.

The Al Shabaab spokesman vowed to tighten security and be more alert to any future attacks from what he called the foreign security firms' "local collaborators."



Al Shabaab is linked to al Qaeda and Khalaf is one of the officials under UN sanctions. He has recently been added to Islamist Somali leaders under U. S. sanctions.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the first of its kind in a place of worship in Somalia.

The group is waging a deadly insurgency attack on the Somali government and African Union peacekeepers backing the Somali government forces.

The moderate Islamist militias, the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaca, recently struck a power-sharing deal with the government. This week it vowed to start fighting Al Shabaab inside their strongholds in Mogadishu.

Ahlu Sunnah has been fighting al Shabaab group in the central Somali regions where they control several important districts.

Al Shabaab, seen as a terrorist group, controls much of the southern and central parts of Somalia. It has been fighting to topple the internationally recognized Somali government and establish an Islamic state in the war-torn east African country.

Somalia has been without a central government for the past two decades.

Two explosions at a mosque in Somalia's capital Mogadishu killed at least 30 people on Saturday and wounded scores, witnesses said.


It was the second attack this week on a mosque in Bakara Market, an area of Mogadishu dominated by members of the country's two main insurgent groups, Hizbul Islam and al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab.

Saturday's attack was in the Abdalla Shideye mosque which is often used by al Shabaab officials to deliver speeches. It is not far from the Abu Hureya mosque where a land mine killed one person Tuesday.

"Many screaming people were piled up on each other, some dead, some injured," said a witness who asked not to be identified. "There were more than 30 dead," he said, estimating that over 100 people were injured. "Al Shabaab armed men arrived and surrounded the mosque," he added.

It was not clear who was behind the mosque blasts, although residents suspected they could be the result of infighting between the insurgent groups, which are both trying to topple the Western-backed government.

Some witnesses said they believed that a senior leader of al Shabaab, Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, was the target. Khalaf, who is also known as Fuad Shongole, is on a list of people in Somalia subject to U.N. sanctions.

According to the U.N. Security Council, Khalaf, who also has Swedish nationality, has raised funds for al Shabaab and was involved in two car bomb attacks in the capital in April 2008.

Germany vows to investigate friendly fire incident-6 Afghans soldiers dead

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Germany's defense minister has announced a thorough investigation into the friendly fire clash that left six Afghan soldiers dead.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told journalists on Sunday that his office and the office of the German prosecutor general will investigate what happened Friday night near the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. NATO's ISAF and the Afghan Defense Ministry have also launched investigations.

The incident occurred on the same day that three German troops died and eight were wounded in heavy fighting with insurgents near Kunduz.

Guttenberg expressed his sympathy to the families and relatives of the Afghan soldiers killed by German soldiers. The German troops were rushing to the scene of their comrade's fighting after nightfall and mistook them for insurgents, the military said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BERLIN (AP) — A German minister urged the country's public to show more understanding and support for their troops in Afghanistan after German soldiers accidentally killed six Afghan soldiers in a friendly fire incident.

Development Minister Dirk Niebel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the public should have "more comprehension for the need that they sometimes have to defend themselves preemptively."

The incident occurred on the same day that three German troops died and eight were wounded in fighting with insurgents in Afghanistan.

Niebel said German soldiers can't understand the lack of comprehension by the German public and why they have to fear prosecution at home for defending themselves.

Niebel met with German soldiers in Afghanistan on Saturday after visiting development projects and was flying back to Germany on Sunday with three coffins from Friday's fighting.

The presence of some 4,000 German troops in Afghanistan is increasingly unpopular in Germany, where politicians stop short of calling military operations there a war.

Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was holding a news conference Sunday and was expected to face tough questions over the deadly friendly fire incident Friday night in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan.

There was still conflicting information about what happened. The German military maintains the vehicles carrying the Afghan soldiers could not be recognized as such, but the commander of Afghan forces in northern Afghanistan, Gen. Murad Ani, however, said both vehicles were clearly marked.

The Afghan military puts the death toll at six, the Germans speak of five troops killed.

Kunduz is also where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an airstrike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday to express her condolences over the accidental killing of Afghan troops, and he expressed sympathy regarding the deaths of the three German soldiers.

In a separate development, retired General Harald Kujat, formerly the highest ranking German soldier and chairman of the NATO Military Committee, accused the government of "ignorance regarding the military's needs" for operations in Afghanistan.

Kujat told daily Welt am Sonntag that crucial equipment for a successful mission is missing and there aren't enough boots on the ground.

The current mandate — allowing a maximum of 5,000 soldiers — is a political compromise "which is not reflecting the real operational needs." The government lacks a coherent strategy, he said.

Kujat — who was Germany's top soldier between 2000 and 2002 before moving to the NATO headquarters — also said he expects more brazen attacks by the Taliban on the German military in northern Afghanistan.

So far, 39 German soldiers have lost their life in Afghanistan, 22 of them in combat or following bomb attacks.


German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg informs the media about the recent incident in Afghanistan during a news conference in Bonn, Germany, Sunday April 4, 2010. German troops in a deadly firefight with Taliban insurgents accidentally killed six Afghan troops. Three Germans died in the firefight with the militants. The friendly fire incident Friday took place in northern Kunduz province, where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an airstrike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.


In this photo released by the German government on Sunday, April 4, 2010, German ISAF soldiers attend a military farewell ceremony for three killed comrades at the German ISAF base in Kunduz, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 4, 2010. Three German ISAF soldiers have been killed during a fight with Taliban fighters on Friday, April 2, 2010, eight soldiers were wounded, four of them seriously


 

In this photo released by the German government on Sunday, April 4, 2010, German ISAF soldiers carry a flag-drapped coffin to a transport helicopter at the German base in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Sunday, April 4, 2010. Three German ISAF soldiers have been killed during a fight with Taliban fighters on Friday, April 2, 2010, eight soldiers were wounded, four of them seriously.



German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg informs the media about the recent incident in Afghanistan during a news conference in Bonn, Germany, Sunday April 4, 2010. German troops in a deadly firefight with Taliban insurgents accidentally killed six Afghan troops. Three Germans died in the firefight with the militants. The friendly fire incident Friday took place in northern Kunduz province, where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an air strike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians


German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg informs the media about the recent incident in Afghanistan during a news conference in Bonn, Germany, Sunday April 4, 2010. German troops in a deadly firefight with Taliban insurgents accidentally killed six Afghan troops. Three Germans died in the firefight with the militants. The friendly fire incident Friday took place in northern Kunduz province, where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an airstrike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.


German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, left and the Inspector General of the German army, General Volker Wieker, right, jointly inform the media about the recent incident in Afghanistan during a news conference in Bonn, Germany, April 4, 2010. German troops in a deadly firefight with Taliban insurgents accidentally killed six Afghan troops. Three Germans died in the firefight with the militants. The friendly fire incident Friday took place in northern Kunduz province, where German forces were sharply criticized last September when they ordered an air strike on two tanker trucks that had been captured by the Taliban. Up to 142 people died, many of them civilians.

Shiite group leads in southern Iraq province vote-Highest vote turnout.

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Iraqi journalists and representatives of Iraqi political blocs and entities look at a screens showing the partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq in Baghdad, Thursday March 11, 2010, which showed the secular coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has the lead in the former insurgent strongholds of Diyala and Salahuddin, north of Baghdad, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was ahead in two mainly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq



Graphic shows preliminary results of the Iraq parliamentary election


Iraqi journalists and representatives of Iraqi political blocs and entities look at a screen showing the partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq in Baghdad, Thursday March 11, 2010, which showed the secular coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has the lead in the former insurgent strongholds of Diyala and Salahuddin, north of Baghdad, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was ahead in two mainly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq.



Counting and data input workers at the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 11, 2010, as data is calculated before an election result can be declared. The partial preliminary results from four of 18 provinces in Iraq show the prime minister's bloc and a secular challenger winning two provinces each

An Iraqi Shiite religious alliance with ties to Iran is leading in one southern province according to the latest vote tallies released.

Results have only been released for six of 18 provinces, excluding Baghdad, so the final outcome is far from certain.

Election officials said Friday that the Iraqi National Alliance has almost 30,000 votes in Maysan province, which borders Iran, compared to about 23,000 for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition.

The results are based on 23 percent of the votes counted in that province.

Friday's announcement complicates the picture after results released the day before showed al-Maliki's coalition and a secular alliance led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi winning in two provinces each.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.


BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi prime minister's bloc says it has started laying the groundwork to form a coalition government after preliminary election results showed it winning in at least two southern provinces.

Friday's announcement that Nouri al-Maliki's alliance has created a committee to open talks with other groups signals growing optimism about a strong showing in the parliamentary balloting.

Partial tallies have only been released from only five of Iraq's 18 provinces, excluding Baghdad. They show the prime minister and his secular rival, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, locked in a tight contest amid fraud allegations.

But Al-Maliki supporter Abbas al-Bayati says the alliance has already reached out to other parties and believes it will need at least two allies.

Dramatic images of World Trade Centre collapse on 9/11 released for first time

We have seen the Twin Towers collapse hundreds of times on TV. The steel and glass skyscrapers exploding like a bag of flour, the dust and smoke pluming out across Manhattan. But never like this, from above.

Nine years after the defining moment of the 21st century, a stunning set of photographs taken by New York Police helicopters forces us to look afresh at a catastrophe we assumed we knew so well.

You know but cannot see the 2,752 men, women and children who died at the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. None is visible here.
All we see is the spectacular moment of collapse, what film directors call the wide shot, showing the towers in their urban setting, before, during and after their fall.

Even for those who were there, like me, running from the cloud and choking in the dust, it is hard to believe. But what is all too evident to everyone is that this event changed the world, with consequences that will haunt us for decades.

With the Twin Towers collapsed the world we thought we knew.

These dramatic images were taken by police photographers in helicopters and it is the first time they have been seen, having been released under a Freedom of Information request made by America's ABC News.

Burning buildings can be seen crumpling in on themselves as plumes of smoke rise up over the New York skyline that terrible September morning.

The images show how the police helicopter first began taking images from afar before moving in to reveal the devastation taking place underneath.

They also reveal the horror faced by those trapped in the burning buildings and then the walls of smoke and debris that enveloped the surrounding area as the towers came crashing down.

Released more than eight years after the deaths of 2,752 people on that day, they are powerful reminders of the attack that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The legacy of the New York attack continues today with as British forces joining with Afghan soldiers and Nato to launch the biggest attack on the Taliban - accused of harbouring Al Qaeda who organised the 9/11 attack - since the initial 2001 offensive.

Meanwhile, in New York, work is continuing to build on the rubble of what became known as Ground Zero.

Structural steel for the 1,776ft tower, which will be known as 1 World Trade Centre, has already reached 200ft above street level.

Workers are now installing 16 steel nodes on the 20th-floor of the tower which will serve as joints between the steel framing for the building's podium and the steel for the rest of the tower. The 104-storey skyscraper is due to be completed in 2013 and will be one of the tallest buildings in the U.S.