Afghan cops gun down 7 comrades, join Taliban

Sunday night's incident outside Qalat, the provincial capital of southern province of Zabul, comes amid the bloodiest period in an insurgency raging since US-backed forces toppled the militants' government in 2001.

"The seven policemen were asleep when the other five jumped, killed them, took their arms and joined the Taliban," provincial spokesman, Gulab Shah Alikhail, told Reuters.

He said provincial officials were hunting the five policemen and had "intelligence" that they had joined the Taliban.

While there have been many cases of police running away from the Taliban, hitherto there have been no reports of police defecting to the guerrillas.

In other violence, two Afghan soldiers died in a bomb blast while 10 suspected Taliban were killed in separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, security officials said Monday.

An Afghan army vehicle struck a roadside mine Sunday in southern Zabul province, killing one soldier and injuring about three others, defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

A second soldier died later in hospital, another army officer said on condition of anonymity. A group of Taliban were also arrested.

Elsewhere in the province Afghan troops on a joint mission with soldiers from the US-led coalition killed around five Taliban fighters and arrested three more on Sunday, Azimi said.