Afghan police officer kills five colleagues

Afghan Police. CROWN COPYRIGHT.

An Afghan police officer, identified as Dur Mohammad, shot dead five of his colleagues earlier today - Monday 24th December - in the northern province of Jawzjan, an official said.

Dur Mohammad, the head of the police post, is thought to have joined the Taliban insurgents after the deadly shooting, provincial police chief Abdul Aziz Ghairat said.

"He shot dead five of his colleagues and fled and joined the Taliban," Ghairat said.

The gunman and victims were part of the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a US-backed community police force tasked with guarding Afghan villages against Taliban attacks.

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks by Afghan Police and Army personnel on their own men or foreign allies. Earlier in the day, a female Afghan police officer killed a foreign adviser in the capital Kabul. Click here for that report.