GHAZNI: Taliban insurgents killed 13 local policemen while they were sleeping yesterday, in an attack on their checkpoint in southeast Afghanistan, officials said.
The policemen were shot dead in the Andar district of Ghazni province, said district governor Mohammad Qasim Desiwal.
“They were asleep when their checkpoint came under attack by the Taliban and were killed by AK-47 fire,” Desiwal said.
Provincial governor Mosa Khan Akbarzada confirmed the death toll and said a delegation had been sent to the district to investigate.
The victims were members of the 18,000-strong Afghan Local Police, a village-level force formed in 2010 to provide security in areas where the better-trained national police and army are scarce.
Afghan troops and police are increasingly on the front line against the insurgents, and suffering heavier casualties, as Nato combat troops prepare to withdraw by the end of next year.
The bodies of four Afghan regular soldiers were found Wednesday with their throats slit in Jawzjan, a day after they were kidnapped by the Taliban along the road to the northern province.
The Taliban have been waging an insurgency against the Afghan government since they were toppled from power by a US-led invasion in 2001.
A total of 23 people were killed Tuesday and Wednesday, including the four soldiers and two local employees of the Red Crescent medical charity.
AFP
