Taliban attack on Afghan police 'kills at least 16'

A Taliban attack on an Afghan police checkpost in the country's troubled east has left at least 16 people dead, officials said Wednesday, with reports of civilians among the victims. The details of the pre-dawn attack on an Afghan Local Police (ALP) checkpoint are unclear, and officials said they were investigating how the militants breached security at the post in Ghazni province. "The insurgents have killed 10 local policemen and seven civilians inside a police checkpost in Andar district," said provincial Governor Musa Khan Akbarzada. "We are not sure how they killed all these policemen and civilians and have sent a delegation to investigation the circumstances under which the incident happened." Two other provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 16 died in the attack and all were policemen. The same officials said the Taliban poisoned the men before shooting them and seizing their weapons. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesmen for the Taliban, who have led an 11-year insurgency against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, claimed the attack for the insurgents in a phone call to AFP.