An Afghan firefighter man washes the scene of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. A man wearing a black overcoat and carrying an umbrella as a shelter against the heavy snow crossed a street in the Afghan capital early Wednesday morning toward an idling bus filled with Afghan soldiers, where he laid down and wiggled underneath. Then he exploded, engulfing the undercarriage of the bus in flames. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
An Afghan firefighter man washes the scene of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. A man wearing a black overcoat and carrying an umbrella as a shelter against the heavy snow crossed a street in the Afghan capital early Wednesday morning toward an idling bus filled with Afghan soldiers, where he laid down and wiggled underneath. Then he exploded, engulfing the undercarriage of the bus in flames. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents poisoned and killed 17 people in an overnight attack on a post manned by a government-backed militia in eastern Afghanistan.

Ghazni deputy provincial council head Abdul Jamhe Jamhe says the militants somehow infiltrated the outpost and poisoned those inside the compound before launching the Tuesday night assault. He says the assailants then shot the incapacitated men.

Provincial Gov. Musa Khan Akbarzada says 10 of those killed in Andar district were members of the government-backed Afghan Local Police group and the remaining seven killed were civilians who were friends of the local police. He says there was a conspiracy of some sort but declined to confirm if there was poison involved.

Comments