Attacks in Afghanistan Kill 9 Policemen, Cleric, Wife
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Afghan policeman turned his rifle on his colleagues in a northern province, killing eight, while a gunman in the country's east fatally shot a cleric and his wife, officials said Friday.
The policemen were killed while they were sleeping in an outpost in the district of Almar in northern Faryab province, according to the provincial police spokesman, Abdul Karim Yuresh.
The attack happened Thursday night and according to the spokesman, a policeman who was on duty opened fire and killed his colleagues, then collected all their firearms and fled the scene - presumably to join the Taliban.
The Taliban made no official statement or claim about the attack but Afghanistan has seen several such incidents over the past years. There has been a growing number of cases in which Afghan troops or policemen - or Taliban militants dressed in Afghan uniforms - have turning their guns on their colleagues or US-led coalition partners.
Also Thursday night, in the country's eastern Paktika province, a gunman killed a cleric and his wife, said Mohammad Alias Wahdat, the provincial governor.
Wahdat said the gunman entered the cleric's home in the Yusof Khail district and shot the cleric and his wife. Two of their children who were in the house survived.
Police said it was not clear who was behind the attack and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings.
In other violence, Gul Agha Roohani, the chief of police in eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, said Daesh group militants stormed the security posts in the district of Kot early Friday, killing at least one police officer.
Afghan security forces responded and killed 12 militants, he said, AP reported.
