Attack on checkpoint kills four Afghan policemen

Abdul Manan Raoufi, the police spokesman for the police in northern Jawzjan Province, said that the attack took place in Darzab district in the early hours of Wednesday.

An Afghan official says an attack on a police checkpoint in the country’s north has killed four local policemen.

Abdul Manan Raoufi, the police spokesman for the police in northern Jawzjan Province, said on Thursday that the attack took place in Darzab district in the early hours of Wednesday.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mr. Raoufi says a local police chief, identified as Mohammad Nahim, was among the casualties. The spokesman blamed the Taliban for the attack and said an investigation was underway to determine if the insurgents had accomplices inside the police force.

The Taliban have stepped up their attacks targeting local police and Afghan security forces in the countdown to the departure of foreign combat troops by the end of the month.