Afghan policeman turns gun on colleagues

KABUL

An Afghan policeman poisoned and then shot dead nine of his colleagues while they were sleeping early Friday in the eastern province of Paktika, police and provincial government officials said.

It was the latest in a series of shootings by Afghan security personnel of their local and foreign colleagues, deaths that have ramped up tensions between the allies even as NATO-led forces prepare to pull out by the end of 2014. Paktika provincial police chief Dawlat Khan said the shooting happened before dawn in Yahyakhil district. “A local policeman named Asadullah was persuaded by Taliban insurgents to carry out the firing inside the security check post,” he said.

“First he poisoned his colleagues and then later he woke up for night duty at 3:00 am. Then he used his assault rifle to kill his nine colleagues. They were sleeping inside the post.” Asadullah fled the scene after the shooting and is on the run, he added, and there were no survivors. Paktika is a hotbed of the Haqqani network, essentially a faction of the Taliban allied to al-Qaeda, and neighbors Pakistan’s tribal belt. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to Agence-France Presse: “Last night, a mujahid fighter attacked a security check post. As a result, he killed nine puppet local policemen.

Meanwhile, NATO said two of its service members have been killed in southern Afghanistan, one in a roadside bomb explosion and the other one in an insurgent attack, the Associated Press reported. A statement says the roadside bomb killed the service member on Friday, while the other died in an insurgent attack on March 29.