Eight policemen killed in attack on Afghan outpost

"The insurgents, armed with weapons, attacked a base of Afghan local police in Khak Safid district of the province last night killing 8 people," Mohammed Yunus Rasouli, deputy governor of the province, said.

The insurgents first choked a local policeman guarding the outpost gate before secretly entering the base, killing seven others, he said.

The militants also took away with them all weapons and other military equipments from there, Rasouli said, adding that the outpost was being commanded by an erstwhile militant Ahmad Shah, who had recently left the insurgent group to join the Afghan government.

The incident took place within hours after a motorcycle-borne suicide bomber targeted the Afghan and foreign forces at the provincial capital of northern Faryab province in Maimana city, killing 10 people including six Afghan civilians and four policemen.

Provincial officials had said that three US soldiers were also wounded in the Maimana attack but did not confirm about their deaths.

Taliban, which had claimed responsibility for the Maimana bombing, could not be reached to confirm whether they were taking responsibility for the outpost attack also. Meanwhile without specifying about the incident and other relevant details, NATO's International Security Assistance Force also said in an e-mail that three of its service members were killed in an IED blast in northern Afghanistan.