6 Afghan police killed in insider attack

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan police officer and cook poisoned their colleagues at a checkpoint in an assault coordinated with insurgent fighters that left six dead in the country's south, officials said Saturday.

It was the latest in a string of attacks from inside the Afghan army and police that are threatening to undermine both the partnership with international troops ? which have been the target of many attacks ? and the morale of Afghan forces, who have suffered equally heavy casualties from such strikes.

The police officer and the cook worked with outside insurgents in the assault, which hit police manning a checkpoint in Gereskh district of Helmand province, the governor's office said in a statement.

They poisoned two of the officers and then the militants attacked from outside, killing the remaining four officers, provincial spokesman Ahmad Zirak said. He did not say how the officers were poisoned. The police officer was captured as he fled, but the cook escaped and remains at large, Zirak added.

The insurgent gunmen escaped by motorcycle with weapons and ammunition, the governor's statement said.

A recent upsurge in the number of insider attacks on coalition troops by Afghan soldiers or police ? or insurgents disguised in their uniforms ? has further undermined public support for the war in the West. At least 52 American and other NATO troops have died so far this year in those attacks.

So far this year, at least 52 foreign troops ? about half of them Americans ? have been killed in insider attacks. The Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number of its forces killed in insider attacks. However, U.S. military statistics obtained by The Associated Press show at least 53 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as of the end of August.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/6-afghan-police-killed-insider-attack-075012356.html

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