Afghan police shot dead
June 13, 2013![Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel stand guard at their base in Goshta district of Nangarhar province.The Afghan Local Police, branded by some critics as an incompetent Taliban-linked militia, is one of the many security challenges facing the country as international troops withdraw. Only founded in 2010, the ALP is tasked with community-level policing to suppress violence in some of Afghanistan's most dangerous and remote areas, and despite its many opponents it has had some success (Photo: SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)](https://static.dw.com/image/16488846_800.webp)
The bodies of six Afghan policemen were found at a shelter near their checkpoint in the Sangin district of the southern Helmand province, officials said on Thursday.
District chief Nayamatullah Samim said that their bodies were discovered Wednesday night after they had failed to check in with their superiors. Samim added that two other officers as well as vehicles and weapons had gone missing from the checkpoint.
"We don't know yet whether these two missing men are the ones who killed the police or if they were taken by other attacks," he said.
So-called "insider attacks" have plagued Afghan and international security forces, as the NATO-led military coalition prepares to end combat operations in 2014. Last week, an Afghan police officer shot dead seven of his colleagues in the Greshk district of Helmand province. And, on May 5, an Afghan government soldier shot dead two US marines who were working with him.
The Taliban has said that they would infiltrate the Afghan security forces and launch attacks against both Afghan and international forces.
slk/rc (AP, dpa)