Coalition troops kill Taliban commander

Nato said today its troops killed 10 militants, including a senior commander in southern Afghanistan.

The troops targeted the compound of uprising leader Maulawi Hassan in Helmand province on Saturday.

He and nine associates were killed.

Nato says Hassan was a senior insurgent figure in northern Helmand.

Two Nato soldiers and a contractor were killed yesterday in the same region.

Southern Afghanistan is the centre of the Taliban insurgency, where thousands of new US troops will deploy later this year to try to reverse militant gains.