[Iran Press TV Latest] An Afghan policeman has fired on a checkpoint in Khashrod district in Nimroz province, killing six fellow officers, officials have said. Authorities said Monday that the policeman escaped to Dil Aram district in the province after killing the six colleagues in the shootout that took place in southern Afghanistan.
Later reports said the shooter was identified and killed in the ensuing gun battle when he started to shoot again.
Earlier this month, an Afghan policeman opened fire at the British convoy killing five UK soldiers in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.
Afghanistan's defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, said that the army has been "very watchful because we do have the reports that [insurgents] are really trying to infiltrate," noting that there have been "very few cases" in which insurgents have been caught within the army.
He said the army is trying to collect information such as fingerprints and retinal scans to build a database of all recruits. The US military set up similar systems for the Iraqi security forces.
Many consider the Afghan police more susceptible to insurgent infiltration than the country's army.