An Afghan policeman poisoned and then shot dead nine of his colleagues while they were sleeping early Friday in the eastern province of Paktika, said police and provincial government officials.
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.
“A local policeman named Asadullah was persuaded by Taliban insurgents to carry out the firing inside the security check post,” he told AFP.
“First he poisoned his colleagues and then later he woke up for night duty at 3:00 a.m. Then he used his assault rifle to kill his nine colleagues. They were sleeping inside the post.”
Asadullah fled the scene after the shooting and is on the run, he added, and there were no survivors.
Paktika is a hotbed of the Haqqani network, essentially a faction of the Taliban allied to the al-Qaeda, and neighbours Pakistan's tribal belt, which Washington sees as a hotbed of terrorism.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
