Seventeen Afghan police officers were drugged and then shot to death as they slept early Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan. Officials say two officers acting on behalf of the Taliban carried out the brutal attack. Both men have reportedly been arrested.
The attack occurred at the Afghan Local Police outpost in Habib Godala village in Ghazni province. Authorities believe the suspects slipped drugs into the men’s dinner. Ghazni police chief Gen. Zrawar Zahid said the officers were shot at close range around 1 a.m. The two Taliban militants stole weapons and set fire to a police vehicle as they fled. Details of their capture were not immediately available.
Ten of the dead were officers who had completed their training. The other seven were recruits still in police training.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to journalists. “Locals in the area were tired of the atrocities and crimes of these arbakais, and their lives and property were not safe,” Mujahid wrote.
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