Afghan policeman kills nine colleagues

KABUL: An Afghan policeman shot dead nine of his colleagues as they slept 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 on Friday.

"A local policeman named Asadullah was persuaded by Taliban insurgents to carry out the firing inside the security check post," he told.

"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, he added.

Mokhlis Afghan, spokesman for the Paktika governor, confirmed the attack and that one policeman had fled, adding that two others had been arrested.

The killer and his victims belong to the so-called local Afghan police, militias that form part of the government's security forces but do not come under the national police set-up. (AFP)