Afghan officer shoots, kills 8 colleagues

An Afghan police officer turned his gun on his colleagues as they were manning a checkpoint in the volatile southern Zabul province before dawn today, killing eight policemen, an official said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan today, a roadside bombing killed 11 civilians and wounded three when the van they were travelling in hit the bomb in the country's north.
And in the Dihrawud district of Uruzgan province, two policemen were killed by a colleague in an apparent personal dispute, said district police chief Shah Muhammad.
In the Zabul attack, the perpetrator escaped the scene in Qalat, the provincial capital, taking weapons and vehicles with him, said Ghulam Jalani Farahi, the provincial deputy police chief.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf said the insurgent group was behind the attack and that the shooter "is now with us."
Insider attacks are commonplace among Afghanistan's security forces, often carried out by insurgent infiltrators.