Afghanistan: Policeman kills 8 fellow officers in insider attack, to join Taliban

A policeman from Afghanistan on Thursday shot dead at least eight fellow police officers, burnt their bodies and took their weapons to join terror outfit Taliban.

The attack took place in Takhar province. Earlier a US soldier was killed by an Aghan police official in eastern Logar province.

"The incident happened early Thursday morning after a local police opened fire on his colleagues sleeping in a checkpoint in Khwaja Ghar district," Takhar provincial police spokesman, Khalil Asir said. He said the bodies were later set on fire and burned.

The perpetrator was apparently connected with the Taliban, Asir said, adding that he fled to the group taking weapons.

On Monday a member of the Afghan national police said that an attack killed an American soldier and fled the scene but was later apprehended by Afghans.

When the NATO-led Resolute Support mission announced the September 3 attack, it said that a US service member was killed in an “apparent insider attack.”

It also said that the soldier who died was the sixth American to be killed in the country this year.

Insider attacks by Afghan soldiers or police or by attackers wearing uniform have been a major problem in recent years. There are far more insider attacks on Afghan security forces than on Western forces.