A Taliban leader has been killed in eastern Afghanistan, Nato said today – part of the coalition’s stepped-up campaign to capture and kill mid-level insurgent leaders and disrupt their supply lines.

Militants attacked a police vehicle in western Afghanistan, killing four officers, an official said today.

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.