U.S. soldiers face probe into Afghan civilian deaths

Related developments

Bagram detainees: The Obama administration has won the legal right to hold its terrorism suspects indefinitely and without oversight by judges, not at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, or Thomson, Ill., but at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled for the administration Friday and said the Constitution and its right to habeas corpus do not extend to foreign prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan because it is a war zone. The judges dismissed claims from three prisoners who were brought to Bagram from Pakistan and Thailand and have been held for as long as seven years. Lawyers for the detainees said they would appeal.

Plane crash: Searchers found no survivors Friday among 44 people on board an Afghan commercial airliner that crashed Monday on a mountain north of the capital, Kabul, the aviation minister said. The Antonov-24 operated by Pamir Airways disappeared Monday on a flight from Kunduz to Kabul. Three Britons and one American were among eight foreign passengers on the plane, according to chief aviation investigator Ghulam Farooq. The cause of the crash, which occurred in heavy fog, has not been determined.

Iraq bombing: A car bomb exploded Friday at an open-air market in the Shiite town of Khalis, northeast of Baghdad, killing 23 people and wounding more than 50, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, is a former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold.

Command transfer: About 8,000 British troops in Afghanistan have been placed under U.S. command as part of a restructuring of NATO forces in the country. The Ministry of Defense said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Mills will be the new commander of NATO forces in Helmand province, home to most of the British troops in Afghanistan.

Seattle Times news services