* KABUL/JABAL-US-SARAJ - Opposition forces in Afghanistan said they were driving the Taliban back on two fronts and might try to take the capital, Kabul, despite international pressure to stay out.

* JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan - Afghan opposition Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said that the main fighting force of the Taliban had been lost after their defeats in the north of the country of the last 48 hours.

* LONDON - British troops are on the ground in northern Afghanistan advising the opposition Northern Alliance, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told BBC radio.

* LONDON - Hoon dismissed reported claims by Osama bin Laden that he had a nuclear bomb and was prepared to use it, but said the Saudi-born militant had managed to get hold of nuclear material.

* WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Afghan opposition group Northern Alliance had "effective control" of the key crossroads city Mazar-i-Sharif, but was still meeting pockets of resistance.

* KABUL - US bomb attacks destroyed a village near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and killed 300 people, the heaviest civilian casualties since the air strikes began 36 days ago, a Taliban official said.

* ROME - Advisers to the former king of Afghanistan warned the Northern Alliance of the implications of taking Kabul and urged the anti-Taliban force to keep a promise not to seize the capital.

* QUETTA, Pakistan - Emboldened by the advances of anti-Taliban forces in the north, Afghan mujahideen commanders in Pakistan called on Washington to send them the weapons and vehicles to launch an uprising in the south.

* ISLAMABAD - UN aid organisations expected convoys of trucks to trundle over the Uzbek border into Afghanistan within days, with food, tents and other essentials they stockpiled while awaiting the Taliban's defeat in Mazar-i-Sharif. - Nampa-Reuters