KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 24 (Xinhua) — About seven police personnel were killed in a suspected insider attack in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar overnight, an official said on Thursday.
“Seven personnel of Afghan Local Police (ALP) died after three ALP members turned their guns against them at a security checkpoint in Arghandab District at around midnight,” a provincial official told Xinhua anonymously.
The victims were sleeping when the firing took place and the attackers fled the scene, the source added.
The government established the ALP, or community police, in 2010 to protect villages and districts around the country where army and police have limited presence.
Samim Khpalwak, a provincial government spokesman, confirmed the incident.
“An investigation team has been sent to the area which is located in the northern part of provincial capital Kandahar city and that the details about the incident would be public after wards,” he told Xinhua.
The province is notorious for poppy growing and militancy.
The Taliban militant group has claimed the responsibility for the incident.
More than two dozen policemen have been killed in so-called insider attacks in Kandahar and neighboring provinces since the beginning of this year.
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