The credibility of internet news sources has been further undermined by a proliferation of politically skewed war reporting in the wake of the US terrorist attacks.

As new figures reveal that increasing numbers of Americans are looking outside the US for their online news, a bewildering array of conflicting stories is emerging on sites around the world.

Many sites based in Muslim countries are continuing to highlight President Bush's use of the word 'crusade' - arguing that he wants to wage war on all Muslims - without reporting his later retraction of the term.

The Pakistan-based www.dawn.com reported that a Taliban security chief had promised there will be no further kamikaze attacks by Al Qaeda terrorists against any country following the 11 September bombing. He said they would focus instead on fighting US forces within Afghanistan.

Another story on the same site reported that the Taliban had regained control of the central province of Ghor from the Northern Alliance.

At www.islamonline.net, people from all over the Middle East are using the site's chat rooms to reveal what they know about the war.

One claims that 1,000 Talibs have turned against the Taliban, leaving approximately 90,000 soldiers to fight the US forces.

Another accuses CNN and Fox of being at least a day behind with their news. He said: "Yesterday the US bombed Kandahar, killing 12 civilians and wounding 25. A bus leaving the scene was also bombed, killing 29 - 10 of them women. Al Qaeda and Usama drive around in ambulances dressed as medics. They stick to the populated cities among large crowds. So don't be surprised if a lot more bombs kill civilians. You will not see this reported by CNN."

Stephen Cohen, a senior foreign policy fellow at the US Brookings Institute said in an interview for www.siliconvalley.com that Indian and Pakistan web users appeared to know more about US policy decisions than he did, due to most US web sites' selective reporting of war news.

Paul Levinson, author of 'Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium' said in an interview for the same site: "There's no easy way for most people to determine whether an online source is credible."

Meanwhile figures from Nielsen and NetRatings show that CNN.com was the most popular site for UK surfers in September, while more US users are looking at sites from the Middle East. On 11 September, 36 per cent of CNN.com's traffic came from non-US users, compared with 22 per cent for the same day the previous week.

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