KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Eight local policemen were killed by their colleagues after they were poisoned in their base in southern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday (March 12), in a latest so-called "insider attack".
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident, which happened in Nawshar District, Zabul Province, late Friday (March 11).
"The infiltrators poisoned their colleagues and then shot them dead," provincial government spokesman Gul Islam Siyal told AFP, adding that the attackers fled the area after taking all the weapons and munitions from the base.
The governor of Zabul, Bismillah Afghanmal, said authorities had launched an investigation.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told media that the group's "infiltrators" carried out the attack.
So-called insider attacks -- when Afghan soldiers and police turn their guns on their colleagues or on international troops -- have been a major problem during the more than 15-year-long war.
