A US-led coalition air strike in eastern Afghanistan has left seven children dead.
The children were students at a madrassa in Paktia province, a building which coalition foces said was housing suspected al-Qaeda militants.
Survivors of the attack, who it is thought were being used as human shields, claimed they had been ordered to stay inside the building all day.
The attack on the madrassa followed information claiming that al-Qaeda fighters were in the area.
Meanwhile, 'several dozen' militants have been killed in heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan.
Clashes took place in both Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
In Kabul, police arrested a man suspected of links with yesterday's suicide bombing on a bus that killed 35 people.
The suspect's mobile telephone contained pictures of the Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in a military operation in May.
In a separate incident, three coalition soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near the southern city of Kandahar.
