HERAT, March 12: A district police chief and eight of his policemen were killed on Monday when a remote-controlled bomb blew up their vehicle in western Afghanistan, police said.
Eighteen Afghan police have now been killed in attacks in the past three days.
The police chief, Abdul Karim, was newly-appointed and on his way to take up his job in Farah province’s district of Bakwa, which was briefly overrun by Taliban last month, the provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said.
“The newly-appointed police chief of Bakwa and eight other police were martyred and one police was wounded in a roadside remote-controlled bomb explosion today (Monday) just before noon,” he said.
The previous police chief and Bakwa district governor were detained after the district was overrun by insurgents for less than 24 hours last month. The government said it was investigating them for links to the Taliban.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said “mujahedin” with the movement were responsible for the explosion.—AFP
