Afghan forces took control of security across the country on Tuesday, marking a major milestone as US-led combat troops prepare to withdraw after 12 years of fighting the Taliban. Speaking at a military academy outside Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said the police and army were ready to take on insurgents, but a bomb in the city underlined persistent instability. Three civilians were killed in the attack, which targeted a prominent lawmaker as his convoy travelled to parliament just before the handover ceremony began.

Taliban insurgents on Monday launched a grenade and gun attack on Kabul airport, firing on military facilities before being overwhelmed in an operation hailed as a victory for Afghan security forces. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up and all five other attackers were killed when elite Afghan troops stormed two multi-storey buildings where the militants were holed up near the airport's perimeter fence.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday demanded that Britain hand over within two weeks more than 80 prisoners of war being held in a British base in the south, saying the detention was against Afghan law and a breach of sovereignty. The issue of prisoner transfers is an irritant in the relationship Karzai between and his Western backers, and has become more pronounced as the NATO-led international force prepares to pull out most of its troops by the end of next year.

An Afghan soldier shot dead three US troops on Saturday in the east of the country, the latest "insider attack" to shake efforts by the two armies to work together to defeat the Taliban insurgency. The killings in Patika province came on the same day that one Italian soldier died and three others were wounded when a grenade was thrown into their armoured vehicle in the western province of Farah.