Dozens of Taliban militants captured a remote district in central Afghanistan overnight, killing one police officer and injuring two others, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Local security forces fled "under lots of pressure" after the insurgents stormed into Ghazni province's Ajiristan district, 200 kilometres southwest of Kabul, shortly after midnight, spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. "Security forces abandoned the district centre after Taliban attacked. They withdrew under lots of pressure," the spokesman said. "One police was killed and two others were injured," he said.

"We're working on a plan to retake the district," Bashary said, without giving details. 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.

Kunar: Meanwhile, militants attacked a NATO patrol in eastern Afghanistan on Monday and 12 people were wounded in the ensuing clash, including some civilians, officials said.

The foreign troops were passing through Pech River Valley in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, when militants fired on them using civilian homes for cover, provincial police chief Gen Abdul Jalal Jalal said.

Troops returned fire and 12 people were wounded, Jalal said. Six of those were sent to a hospital in the provincial capital of Asadabad for treatment, said Hafizullah, a doctor at the hospital. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.

Zabul: Meanwhile, insurgents attacked a convoy of trucks ferrying goods on the main Kandahar-Kabul highway, killing four private security guards, said Shadi Khan, a local government official in Zabul province.