Taliban kill eight Afghan police

KUNDUZ // Taliban fighters overran a police post in northern Afghanistan today, killing eight officers, the provincial governor said, in an attack that underscores the widening insurgency. The attack took place in Kunduz, capital of the province of the same name which has become increasingly restive as the Taliban expand their footprint across the previously peaceful northern provinces. "Taliban attacked a police post and killed eight policemen. There were nine people in the post, one of them survived, though he was injured," Goveror Mohammad Omar said.

Residents said some areas of Kunduz have come under Taliban control, and describe recruitment drives that exploit high unemployment and disillusionment with a largely corrupt state security apparatus. Nato and the US have 141,000 troops in the country, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as efforts to quell the insurgency, especially in the south, escalate. Most deployments as part of the US president Barack Obama's 30,000-strong troop surge are heading to southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces, though others are heading north to reinforce small bases run by Nato allies.

* AFP