Afghan and NATO-led forces killed 65 Taliban rebels when they called in air strikes as the insurgents smuggling weapons across the border from Pakistan, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

Three Islamic preachers, Sigauri, Dimiev and Masaev, were kidnapped by Russian troops on the night between September 28-29, 2006 and are now held in one of the secret prisons in Chechnya according to a report from a Chechen group.

Iran said on Sunday a Middle East conference organized by the United States would result in an erosion of Palestinian rights because Washington had shown in the past that it was not an objective mediator.