Taliban militants have captured a remote district in Afghanistan, killing one police officer and injuring two others.
Local security forces have fled the centre of Ajiristan district, in the central Ghazni province, about 200km southwest of Kabul.
They withdrew from the centre under heavy pressure from Taliban fighters.
Ajiristan was captured by Taliban insurgents in October last year. It was retaken the following day when about 300 security forces moved into the small district centre.
The Taliban has captured several mainly remote districts in the past. Usually it has not been able to hold them for long, although there are a few in the southern province of Helmand that security forces admit are in rebel control.
Meanwhile an international soldier and nearly two dozen insurgents have been killed in other attacks in Afghanistan.
The soldier, who was with the US-led coalition, died after being wounded in a bomb explosion in the southern province of Helmand at the weekend.
The death brings to 138 the number of international soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, mostly in hostile action. Nearly 220 foreign soldiers died in violence last year.
About 20 Taliban rebels were also killed overnight after international helicopters attacked them in the eastern province of Khost.
The choppers were called in after the rebels ambushed a police convoy, killing a policeman.
