Families of US cinema dead to get compo

The families of 12 people killed in July in a US movie cinema massacre will receive $US220,000 each. Source: AAP

THE families of 12 people killed in July in a US movie cinema massacre will receive $US220,000 ($A213,976) each from a special relief fund created by private donations, the Denver Post reported.

Five victims who suffered permanent brain damage or physical paralysis in the killing spree also will receive $US220,000 each. The money will be disbursed in the next few days.

The total amount donated to the fund reached more than $US5.3 million, the newspaper reported. It was administered by Ken Feinberg, a lawyer specialising in mediation who served as special master of the US government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Feinberg was recruited to mediate between victims of the cinema shooting and the fund's co-creators - the governor's office and a non profit community foundation, the newspaper said.

Thirty-eight of 57 claims filed were approved by Feinberg.

Smaller graduated payouts will be made people who were hospitalised. Victims who did not require overnight hospitalisation and those who filed claims for mental trauma received no payout because of limited funds, a spokesman for the governor said.

The accused gunman, James Holmes, a former neuroscience student, faces 152 charges including 24 counts of first degree murder. The July 20 shooting occurred in a cinema in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado during the premiere of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.

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Man extradited over shooting incident

A MAN has been extradited from Queensland following a drive-by shooting in a small northern NSW town in July.

Police were called to Rappville, south of Casino, on the afternoon of July 12, after shots were fired into a home, causing damage to the front door.

No one was home at the time and there were no injuries.

On Friday, a 22-year-old man was extradited from Queensland and taken to Lismore police station where he was charged with discharging a firearm at a dwelling with disregard for safety, possessing a loaded firearm in a public place and possessing an unauthorised firearm.

Police said the 22-year-old appeared on Saturday in Lismore Local Court where he was refused bail.

He is to reappear in the same court on Monday.

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Four shot dead in India's northeast

FOUR people have been killed in a gun attack in India's restive northeast, pushing the week's death toll from ethnic violence to 10 as the situation remains tense.

Heavily armed gunmen late on Friday attacked the village of Joraibari in the western Kokrajhar district, 230 kilometres from the state of Assam's main city of Guwahati, authorities said.

"Three members of a family and another (distant) relative were shot dead by unidentified gunmen," Biswajit Daimary, an MP and leader of the Bodoland People's Party (BPF), told AFP.

A child was also critically injured in the shooting.

The government said there had been a "massive deployment of army, police and paramilitary troopers" to quell the fighting between indigenous Bodo tribes and Muslim settlers who have been embroiled for years in territorial disputes.

All the victims were Muslims.

"The situation is tense," Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters.

"The death toll in fresh clashes in the past week has gone up to 10 and we're trying our best to control the situation with a very firm hand."

Clashes between the Bodos and the Muslim settlers in July left at least 80 dead and displaced 450,000 people. Some 100,000 people remain in relief camps.

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Still no motive for French Alps killings

Members of a UK family killed in the French Alps may have been the victims of a random killing. Source: AAP

THREE members of a British family gunned down in the French Alps may have been the victims of a random killing, the prosecutor investigating the case has suggested.

Eric Maillaud said he had still found no motive for the murders of Iraqi-born engineer Saad al-Hilli and his wife and mother-in-law as well as a French cyclist near Lake Annecy in September.

Although investigators are keeping all lines of inquiry open, they have moved away from initial suspicions that the answer lies in a family dispute between Mr al-Hilli and his brother Zaid.

Maillaud, Annecy's chief prosecutor who is leading the case, told the BBC: "Without doubt we are looking for someone who has killed before, someone who puts no value on human life.

"We are not sure whether that means it's a professional hit but if it was done on a contract it was very badly done.

"We are looking for unbalanced people - capable of extreme violence, People who have access to weapons - hunters, collectors, shooting club members, some of whom could have had psychiatric problems.

"We are searching a huge area stretching into Switzerland and Italy - and that includes a large number of people."

Members of Al-Hilli's family have expressed their anger at being investigated for the killings, with his brother strongly denying that a spat over their father's inheritance had anything to with the deaths.

But Maillaud said it was the "first obligation of any inquiry to eliminate the immediate family".

Engineer al-Hilli, 50, of Claygate, Surrey, and his dentist wife Iqbal, 47, were brutally murdered along with her mother Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, and cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, in the horrifying gun attack in woodland near the village of Chevaline on September 5.

The al-Hillis' four-year-old daughter Zeena lay undiscovered under her mother's corpse for eight hours after the shooting, while her seven-year-old sister Zainab was found with serious injures after being shot and beaten.

About 100 police officers in Britain and France are investigating the murders in an operation which spans France, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, Sweden and southern Spain, where al-Hilli's father had an apartment.

In the interview, Maillaud all but rejected speculation that Mollier, who worked in the nuclear industry, was the killer's main target.

"We are 99 per cent sure he was nothing to do with it," he said.

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Kiwis told no Marmite before Christmas

Sanitarium has told New Zealanders that Marmite won't be in production before Christmas. Source: AAP

TOUGH luck, Kiwis, you won't get your favourite breakfast spread of Marmite before Christmas after all.

Sanitarium's New Zealand general manager Pierre van Heerden told NZ national Business Review on Friday the company still does not have council approval for its newly-strengthened and reconfigured Christchurch factory.

"A black Christmas isn't going to be possible," he said from Melbourne.

"It's almost impossible for me now to set a specific on-shelf date because there are still a few uncertainties."

He says the company is hoping to have council sign-off by the end of the month and the Marmite machinery has to be tested before it can start producing the spread again.

The earthquake-enforced shortage of the popular spread has consumers anxious to know when it will return.

The shortage has prompted a "black" market on auction website Trade Me, with 500g jars selling for more than $65.

The company's Christchurch factory, the only one to make Marmite for New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific, was closed late last year because of earthquake damage.

The company had hoped to have Marmite back on supermarket shelves by October.

Vegemite, anyone?

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Brian Burke fails in High Court appeal bid

Former WA premier Brian Burke won't be allowed to appeal to the High Court against his conviction. Source: AAP

FORMER West Australian premier Brian Burke will not be allowed to appeal to the High Court against his conviction for giving false testimony to the state's Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC).

Burke has already failed in WA's appeal court to have his 2010 conviction and $25,000 fine for lying to the CCC overturned.

At a High Court hearing on Friday, Burke's lawyers failed to persuade Justice Kenneth Hayne there were grounds for another appeal.

Burke was originally convicted for lying to the CCC during its 2006 investigation into lobbying for the controversial Smiths Beach development in WA's southwest.

The court found he misled the CCC over his lobbying of then cabinet minister and friend Norm Marlborough to appoint Beryle Morgan, a National Party member and former shire president, to a key development commission.

Justice Hayne said there was no reason to doubt the earlier rulings.

Burke will be back in court next week to face four counts of insider trading, along with stockbroker David John Massey.

The federal charges date back six years and arose from the taping of Burke's telephone calls by the CCC.

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Australia, NZ defence ties sound: Smith

Defence Minister Stephen Smith says Australia and NZ are working much closer together in defence. Source: AAP

DEFENCE Minister Stephen Smith says formal talks with his New Zealand counterpart have proved fruitful, showing the bilateral defence relationship between the nations is in good shape.

New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman met Mr Smith in Perth on Friday for their first formal discussions since the countries signed a Defence Relationship Review in January, although it was their fourth meeting this year.

"Our practical co-operation continues to be enhanced across the board," Mr Smith told reporters at a joint news conference.

"We continue to be very pleased by the navy-to-navy collaboration.

"We've got very good collaboration which we are enhancing in our heavy amphibious lift area, in our sea support ship area, including and involving cross-crewing and the like.

"It's very good for general co-operation, it's very good for interoperability and it also puts us in a good position in response to humanitarian disaster relief exercises, which we are regularly called upon in our part of the world."

Mr Coleman said it was "not just all talk", with New Zealand using its tankers to refuel Australian defence ships at sea, for example.

"We are really working very closely together," he said.

"We're facing common challenges across our defence establishments in terms of the affordability of future capabilities - challenges that all Western nations are having to face up to."

The ministers also said they had discussed drawdown dates for stabilisation forces in East Timor and Solomon Islands, and future defence configurations in Afghanistan.

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Hong Kong shares close higher

HONG Kong shares climbed 0.24 per cent on Friday, bouncing back slightly from a big loss in the previous session.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 50.08 points to 21,159.01 on turnover of HK$47.43 billion ($6.12 billion).

Chinese shares closed down 0.77 per cent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 15.56 points to 2,014.73 on turnover of 36.8 billion yuan ($5.9 billion). It fell 2.63 per cent for the week.

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Thousands attend Hamas commander's funeral

THOUSANDS of people have gathered in the Gaza Strip for the funeral of Ahmed Jaabari, the commander of the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement.

His remains were being taken to the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City on Thursday for a prayer service before his burial.

High-ranking Hamas members were not expected to attend the funeral for safety reasons.

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Hong Kong shares close lower

HONG Kong shares have closed 1.55 per cent lower following heavy losses on Wall Street caused by US fiscal cliff fears.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index shed 333.06 points on Thursday to 21,108.93 on turnover of HK$52.95 billion ($A6.61 billion).

Chinese shares closed down 1.22 per cent.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 25.13 points to 2,030.29 on turnover of 37.1 billion yuan ($A5.81 billion).

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UN Sri Lanka report prompts call for probe

SRI Lanka's main Tamil party has demanded an international probe after the UN admitted it failed to protect thousands of civilians killed by troops in the final phase of the country's conflict in 2009.

The moderate Tamil National Alliance said the report published by UN secretary general's office confirmed its long-standing allegations of widespread killing and incarceration of civilians.

"Now that the UN has come with this report we want action," party spokesman MA Sumanthiran told AFP on Thursday.

"There should be an international inquiry. The government as the main accused party cannot be involved in the investigation."

Sri Lanka has resisted previous calls for an independent probe and instead appointed a domestic commission to recommend measures to prevent Sri Lanka from slipping back into ethnic war.

"We would like to see reparations, restitution and justice for the people who suffered," Sumanthiran said.

"No one can say that these allegations should not be investigated."

The UN report commissioned by Ban Ki-moon to look into UN's own role in Sri Lanka reinforced claims by international rights groups that up to 40,000 civilians could have been killed by government forces.

"Other sources have referred to credible information indicating that over 70,000 people are unaccounted for," the report noted while placing the death toll at about 40,000.

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European stocks drop at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets have fallen at the start of trading.

London's FTSE 100 index of top companies was down 0.6 per cent at 5,687.59 points in early trade on Thursday.

In Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.63 per cent to 3,378.28 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 slipped 0.52 per cent to 7,064.99.

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US promises $US30m as Syria battles rage

The leader of Syria's National Coalition is urging world powers to arm the rebels with weapons. Source: AAP

SYRIAN army tanks have shelled a refugee camp and two nearby districts in southern Damascus as battles raged and warplanes bombarded a rebel-held northwestern town, a watchdog says, as the US promised an extra $US30 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the conflict.

The tanks were deployed at the Palestinian camp of Yarmuk overnight, as well as the nearby districts of Tadamun and Assali, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Both Yarmuk and Tadamun were scene of battles between the army and rebels late on Tuesday, said the Britain-based Observatory.

On Wednesday morning, shells were fired into a second refugee camp east of Yarmuk, said the monitoring group, though it did not specify if they had been fired by the army or by rebels.

Fighting in Damascus has intensified in recent weeks, after the army put down a mid-summer rebel assault on districts particularly in the southern belt where anti-regime sentiment is strong.

The violence is linked to major, ongoing battles in several parts of Damascus province, chiefly in the area known as Eastern Ghuta east of the capital.

Elsewhere, fighter jets bombarded a rebel-held town in the northwestern province of Idlib, the watchdog said.

"The air force has carried out two air strikes on the town of Maaret al-Numan," said the Observatory.

Rebels seized Maaret al-Numan on October 9, and the army has since waged an unrelenting but unsuccessful offensive to take back the town strategically located on the highway linking Damascus and second city Aleppo.

The Observatory - which relies activists, doctors and lawyers for its information - says more than 37,000 people have been killed in Syria since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday announced $US30 million ($A28.89 million) in extra humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflict in Syria, as she welcomed its new opposition coalition.

Clinton, in Australia for annual security and defence talks, said the formation of a new Syrian opposition coalition was "a good beginning".

"We agreed today that the formation of the new Syrian opposition coalition is an important step forward and will help the international community better target our assistance where it is needed most," she said in Perth.

"Today I'm pleased to announce that the US is providing an additional $US30 million in humanitarian assistance to help get much-needed food to hungry people inside Syria and to refugees who have fled to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq."

Clinton said she welcomed the progress made to broaden and unify the opposition leadership under the National Coalition.

"We have long called for this kind of organisation," she said, but added that Washington now wanted to see that momentum maintained.

"Specifically we urge them to finalise the organisational arrangements to support the commitments that they made in Doha and to begin influencing events on the ground in Syria," she said.

"As the Syrian opposition takes these steps, and demonstrates its effectiveness in advancing the case of a unified, democratic, pluralistic Syria, we will be prepared to work with them to deliver assistance to the Syrian people.

"We want to see the steps taken that have been promised and we stand ready to assist this new opposition in standing itself up and representing the Syrian people to the regime and the international community."

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Australia told to be tougher on pedophiles

AUSTRALIA needs to do more to prevent child sex tourists travelling abroad and impose tougher sentences on pedophiles, a senior Thai official says.

Saowanee Khomepatr, a director at the Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, also called on Thai authorities to step up child protection programs with few signs of progress over the past decade.

"I think it's not so much progress about the work (in Thailand). But we have to try more and make more effort," Mrs Saowanee told AAP.

A director of the ministry's Anti-Trafficking in Women and Children Bureau, Mrs Saowanee works closely with Australia on child sex abuse cases.

She said those found guilty in Australia of child sex abuse, and in particular pedophiles who travel abroad to commit crimes, should face stiffer sentences.

She called on Australia to step up publicity to warn potential offenders.

Australia has in place extra-territorial laws covering child sex offenders whose offences occur outside the country.

Thailand is a key destination for child sex tourists and pedophiles, although stepped-up local and international policing has forced more foreign sex tourists to travel to neighbouring countries, such as Cambodia, where official sanctions may be weaker.

Mrs Saowanee's comments came after Thai police arrested a 51-year-old Sydney man, Ian Potterton, last week on charges of "indecency" with a child under 15 years of age and a second count of mental torture to a child.

Potterton, who strenuously denies the charges, could face up to 10 years in jail as well as monetary fines.

Thai police investigators allege he transferred funds to The Philippines and Thailand to pay for "online sex shows" while in Australia.

In Thailand, he travelled with a Thai family and is alleged to have abused their seven-year-old nephew in northern Thailand.

Potterton was arrested on November 8 as he prepared to board a flight to Sydney.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege Potterton had earlier emailed photos of a naked young boy to Australia.

Potterton acknowledged the existence of the file, but told AAP the photos were non-sexual and expressed outrage over the AFP intervention.

On October 31, the AFP conducted a search of his Sydney residence, where "electronic devices" were seized.

Potterton is the second Australian currently facing pedophile charges.

A 93-year-old Australian man, Karl Joseph Kraus, is due to appear in a Chiang Mai court next month over the sexual assault of four young sisters under the age of 15.

Mark Capaldi, a researcher with non-government group End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), known in Australia as ChildWise, says the new challenge in fighting child sex abuse is digital technology.

"A lot of (child abuse) can be facilitated nowadays around digital technology, through the internet or file sharing, dissemination of child pornography to those people who specifically want to target children," he said.

But he said the high profile cases, often involving Western men, were overshadowed by the fact that the majority of sexual exploitation of children was by "local demand, nationals".

"So that remains a concern in countries like Thailand."

Mr Capaldi welcomed Australian government programs across Asia in awareness and education along with capacity building with Thai police authorities in a bid to address the problem.

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UN says staffer killed in Sudan

A LOCAL staff member with the UN's peacekeeping force in the Abyei region contested by Sudan and South Sudan has been killed in an incident following a tribal dispute, a UN official says.

The employee, a member of the Dinka tribe, "was shot and killed" on Tuesday, Damian Rance, a public information officer with the UN's humanitarian agency in Khartoum, told AFP.

The staffer died as a result of clashes between Dinka protesters and the UN's Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in New York.

"Today one national staff member succumbed to his injuries and another sustained an injury as a result of clashes in Abyei between UNISFA and Ngok Dinka demonstrators," Martin Nesirky said late on Tuesday.

"UNISFA has established checkpoints and is monitoring movements into Abyei. UNISFA's leadership is also meeting with Dinka and Misseriya representatives in an effort to defuse tensions."

Rance said he understood that tensions rose on Monday when Misseriya tribal chiefs went to a meeting in Abyei town with the head of UNISFA. This caused tensions with members of the Dinka tribe.

"UNISFA put up security and the crowd dispersed," Rance said.

The deadly clash occurred the following day.

Early on Wednesday UN chief Ban condemned "the series of incidents that occurred in Abyei in the past 48 hours" and urged the communities to resolve their disputes through dialogue.

In a statement, Ban said he remained extremely concerned that joint institutions, including police for the Abyei area, have not yet been established and urged the parties quickly to address the issue.

The African Union had set a December 5 deadline for Sudan and South Sudan to resolve the final status of Abyei. Sudanese troops withdrew from the area in May, ending a year-long occupation.

Abyei was to hold a referendum in January 2011 on whether it belonged with the north or South, but disagreement on who could vote stalled the ballot.

AFP

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New WA crime laws to target bikie gangs

WESTERN Australia now has some of the toughest organised crime laws in the country after passing a bill that can ban bikie gang members from associating.

The legislation is aimed at disrupting the illegal activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organisations and prevent them profiting from violence, intimidation and crime.

Under the new laws, the police commissioner and Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) can apply to a judge to have groups declared criminal organisations if they associate for the purpose of criminal activity and pose a risk to public safety.

WA Attorney-General Michael Mischin said the legislation would also provide for mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for members of criminal organisations convicted of serious offences.

"Once a criminal organisation has been declared, a range of measures can be imposed on members, including WA Police applying to the Supreme Court for control orders to stop them associating with other controlled persons, going to banned locations, promoting or recruiting for the organisation, or transferring funds to the organisation," he said.

For some offences, courts will be required to impose at least two years imprisonment on offenders.

Mr Mischin said it was hoped that if members continued their criminal acts once their organisation has been declared, the lengthy jail terms they received would cripple the organisation's ability to operate.

"The state government is committed to targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organisations which brazenly break the law and manufacture and distribute drugs to the detriment of the community," he said.

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Slow Hand ticks off $3.47m watch sale

A wristwatch belonging to British guitarist Eric Clapton has sold for $3.47 million at auction. Source: AAP

A PLATINUM wristwatch belonging to British guitarist Eric Clapton has sold for 3.4 million Swiss francs ($A3.47 million) in Geneva, auction house Christie's says.

The "exceptionally rare" watch made by Patek Philippe in 1987 was snapped up by an anonymous Asian buyer on Monday, Christie's spokesman Christiano De Lorenzo told AFP, adding that the price was in the middle of the estimate.

The only other time the platinum perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch with moon phases was on auction, in 1989, it sold for just $US250,999.

Clapton, 67, known for his work with rock bands Cream and the Yardbirds and for songs including Crossroads, Layla and Tears in Heaven, had purchased the luxury timepiece privately after that auction for an undisclosed price, De Lorenzo said.

The British guitarist's watch did not fetch the highest price at the Christie's "Important Watches" auction, where sales totalled 27.04 million Swiss francs.

That honour went to another Patek Philippe platinum wristwatch, made especially for American collector JB Champion in 1952, which raked in 3.78 million Swiss francs.

It thereby set "a world auction record for a watch without complications," Christie's said.

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Peacekeepers stay off honour roll for now

THE Australian War Memorial has decided not to include peacekeepers on the Roll of Honour for the time being.

But its council will consider the matter again when it next meets in early 2013.

The council's chairman, retired Rear Admiral Ken Doolan, tabled a petition at the council meeting on Monday calling for the names of 48 Australians killed in post-World War II peacekeeping and humanitarian operations to appear on the Roll of Honour, alongside more than 100,000 Australians killed in more than a century of conflict.

The online petition, which had attracted more than 17,800 signatures, was presented by Mrs Avril Clark, whose son Private Jamie Clark died in the Solomons in 2005, and Sarah McCarthy, whose father Captain Peter McCarthy died in 1988 when his vehicle hit a landmine in southern Lebanon.

Under current rules, a deceased member of the Australian Defence Force can be included on the Roll of Honour if he or she died during or as a result of service classified by the Department of Defence as warlike.

That excludes most post-World War II peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

The council on Monday unanimously decided to retain this existing criteria.

But it intends to revisit the matter in its meeting in the first quarter of 2013.

"Council is aware of a number of differing views in the broader Australian and veteran communities and has undertaken to further consider these opinions over the coming months," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This will include a detailed analysis of the comments on the petition presented by Mrs Clark."

Perth mother Avril Clark said she is disappointed but has not given up hope because the War Memorial has left the door open to discuss the issue again.

"It would mean so much to our family, a recognition that (Jamie) mattered and that he lost his life as a soldier on duty serving his country just like the other names on the War Memorial," she said in a statement.

"He may not have been in a war zone, but he was a soldier."

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Banksia branches close, 47 jobs to go

Almost 50 staff will lose their jobs with all of Banksia Securities' branches to close. Source: AAP

ALMOST 50 staff will lose their jobs with all of Banksia Securities' branches to close.

Non-bank lender Banksia Financial Group has reviewed its operations and decided to close all of subsidiary Banksia Securities' 10 branches, Banksia Securities receivers McGrathNicol said on Tuesday.

A total of 47 staff will lose their jobs: all 28 branch staff plus 19 positions at the group's administration centre in Kyabram in regional Victoria and its head office in Melbourne.

McGrathNicol said the remaining 37 staff at the Kyabram and Melbourne offices were focused on activities related to debenture holder returns including loan recovery processes and dividend payment requirements.

The receivers will ensure all entitlements of all employees are paid in full, McGrathNicol said.

The eight Victorian branches - in Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca, Geelong, Kyabram, Shepparton, Tatura and Warrnambool - and another two in Adelaide and Albury, NSW, will close on Friday.

Banksia Securities went into receivership on October 25 owing $660 million to about 3000 investors living mainly in regional Victoria.

Banksia Securities had offered investors high interest on debentures and lent their funds out as mortgages or commercial property loans.

McGrathNicol has told Banksia Securities investors they can expect a "meaningful" return on their investment but they are not expected to recover all of their funds.

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Rocket attack on Kabul kills one

ROCKETS struck near Kabul's presidential palace and international airport on the 11th anniversary of the Taliban withdrawal from the Afghan capital, killing one and wounding three, police say.

The hardline Islamists, ousted by US-led forces following the 9/11 attacks on the United States, claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday.

"Mujahideen (holy warriors) targeted the presidential palace and Kabul airport with rockets this morning," the Taliban said on their website.

Police said four rockets were fired from a vineyard northeast of Kabul, with two landing "near" Kabul international airport without causing any casualties.

Airport sources said one of the rockets exploded in a car park at the airport and another landed near a police checkpost but failed to detonate.

A third rocket hit the compound of the privately run Shamshad TV station without causing casualties.

"But unfortunately, the fourth one landed in District 9 (near the presidential palace) and hit a car, wounding three civilians and killing one," Kabul police said in a statement.

The rockets had been rigged to fire from improvised launchers when triggered by mobile phones and a fifth was discovered and disarmed before it was launched, the statement said.

Since being driven from power, the Taliban have waged an increasingly bloody insurgency against the government of President Hamid Karzai, which is backed by more than 100,000 NATO troops.

Rocket attacks on the capital are relatively rare - and notoriously inaccurate - but Kabul has been hit by a series of deadly suicide and commando-style insurgent attacks this year.

US and NATO combat troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and there are widespread fears that a new multi-faction civil war could break out after their departure.

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