MILITANTS have regrouped in Afghanistan’s western provinces and ignited violence that has killed a dozen people in two days, officials warned yesterday.

As Nato troops exert pressure on Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, militants have regrouped in western provinces and ignited violence that has killed a dozen people in two days, officials said today.

A CAR bomb targeting a British military convoy killed four Afghan civilians and one British soldier in the Afghan capital Kabul yesterday, NATO and Afghan officials said. Ten people were wounded.

Afghan forces aided by NATO aircraft and artillery killed 71 suspected Taliban militants in running battles in southern Afghanistan that also left five Afghan troops dead in one of the bloodiest clashes since the 2001 US-led invasion.

A roadside bomb rigged to a parked bicycle hit a Nato patrol in the Afghan capital today, injuring three soldiers.