Taliban kill 10 Afghan cops in insider hit

A rogue Afghan policeman drugged and then shot dead 10 of his colleagues in the country’s volatile south early on Tuesday, officials said, the second insider attack on the police in just over a week.

The Taliban infiltrator then stole their weapons and fled the police outpost in the Chinarto district of Uruzgan province, authorities said, triggering a manhunt.

The attack just after midnight is part of the Taliban’s unprecedented winter campaign of nationwide violence despite a renewed international push to restart formal peace talks.

“Our investigation shows that this policeman collaborated with the Taliban, drugged his colleagues and killed them when they were unconscious,” Dost Mohammad Nayab, the spokesperson for Uruzgan’s governor, said.

Deputy provincial police chief Rahimullah Khan confirmed the account and said an operation had been launched to track down the killer.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, giving a different account, said nine policemen were killed after the militants captured the police outpost in Chinarto.

“Our mujahideen seized several weapons including AK-47s, machine guns and rocket-propelled gren-ades,” Mujahid said.

So-called insider attacks have been a major problem during Nato’s long years fighting alongside Afghan forces.