Four Afghan policemen were shot dead and three wounded after being poisoned by a colleague in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said. The attack happened in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province and is the latest in a series of insider attacks by Afghan security forces on their local and foreign colleagues. "There were eight border police in Shero area check post, one of them poisoned the others' food and then shot them," provincial spokesman Jawid Faysal told AFP.

Four had died and three taken to hospital for treatment for gunshot wounds, he said, while the attacker had fled. Ghurzang Afridi, a spokesman for border police in southern Afghanistan said a probe into the attack was under way. "The police are still investigating whether the attacker had any links with Taliban," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012